A Cup of Tea And A Bowl of Ramen
by Tsubaki-chan
Summary: [SasuNaru] A series of drabble featuring Sasuke and Naruto in different ranks, ages.
1. Genin to Genin

_For the rest of the drabbles that are going to come up:_

**Disclaimer:** Naruto and all the characters are owned by Kishimoto-san. If I did own Naruto, then Suke-kun would be having his way with our Naru-chan.

**Warning:** SasuNaru, which will all equal to Sasuke X Naruto, thus meaning boy X boy action. Also, grammar errors… Yes, a lot of grammar errors… (stares into the air)

-

**Drabble 1. Genin to Genin**

(The first rank will belong to Sasuke, and second rank will belong to Naruto. And the 'to' in the middle is pronounced TOH, which is a Japanese word for 'and.' For example: _Hokage to Jounin_ would mean that Sasuke is Hokage and Naruto is jounin.)

And yes, there are more to come…if I write them, that is…

* * *

For some reason Sasuke is acting very…_odd_. 

No no, not that there was ever a time he acted normal, but today…let's just say that he's especially, extraordinarily odd.

It's like he's avoiding any physical or mental contacts with people…nah, he always avoided people. Anyways, err, it's really hard to explain but…he's really acting odd today. He can't keep an eye contact for more than 3 seconds and even if I do try to provoke him, our conversation only lasts 5 seconds. He's staring at the sky when he's not even Shikamaru and his face is somewhat red…it's not like he's reading Icha Icha Paradise or anything…

A poof. "Yoo, shoukun."

"YOU'RE LATE!" Thus that begins our little morning routine.

"Ah, there was a dolphin caught in a fisher's net near the shore so- I rescued it before I came here," he explained, keeping his face straight like he always do to lie.

"**IF YOU'RE GOING TO LIE, MAKE IT SOUND BELIEVABLE, KAKASHI-SENSEI! WE'RE SURROUNDED BY FORESTS, DANG IT! THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS DOLPHINS AROUND HERE!**" Sakura-chan and I yelled at the same time, somehow ending up saying the same thing. It was really scary how we managed to say the same things at a time like this when Kakashi-sensei tried to lie…

Bah, a dolphin? You're so predictable, Kakashi-sensei… You probably ended up doing the 'fooling around thing' with Iruka-sensei before you came here… Hmph! I know I'm stupid, but I'm not that stupid enough to not notice that your clothes are somewhat hurriedly thrown on!

"Okay, moving on" the silver haired jounin drawled, pointedly averting our angry rants, "We don't have any missions today, so we'll train until 3 before we finish."

N-…No missions? Damn it! That friggin' lady luck wasn't even on my side today! What was up with these stupid events?

"Why aren't there any missions today, Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura-chan asked first curiously, and at the corner of my eyes, I saw Sasuke shift slightly. That caught his attention, I suppose.

"All the D rank missions were given out to the academy students in order for them to have a little taste of the genin lifestyle, and all C, B, or A rank missions were given out to chuunin and jounin who has free time. Hokage-sama noticed that those ninjas were getting a little too lazy… Ma, you guys are playing too much right now too, but when I look at you, I have a feeling that we might just need a little break, Sasuke-kun." Kakashi-sensei said, attaching a little heart at the end of the suffix, thus royally pissing the said boy off.

"Shut up!" Sasuke yelled, apparently royally pissed off like aforementioned. I'm telling you! He's acting odd! Normally he would just make a little 'che' and turn his head, but right now his so moody right now you can't do anything to make him feel better!

"Are you okay, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura-chan asked worriedly, peering at his eyes with concern. It's been around 6 months ever since she got over the most wanted boy in Konoha, but Sasuke was still her friend, sexy or not. Oh, she was just acting like she was still infatuated with him just to annoy Sasuke. Who knew that she enjoyed such things? "You're being extremely moody today!" Oh no! If a thick headed girl such as Sakura-chan (sorry, Sakura-chan!) noticed the oh-so-great Sasuke's state today, then it must be true! _Something was up with him! Gasp!_

"I'm fine," he muttered, somewhat annoyed with that barely audible twitch of his right eyebrow. He used to ignore Sakura-chan all the time in the past, but now he answers every one of her questions that aren't ridiculous. She was still his teammate, after all. "Just… I just didn't have any sleep."

A sudden snicker from Kakashi-sensei, which was quite odd, judging by the fact that Kakashi-sensei kept his straight face most of the times, "Oh ho ho, but you had a 'nice dream,' didn't you, Sasuke-kun? No matter how much you try to hide it from me, I could still hear the shower!"

Sasuke's face turns immediately red, brightness of the blush creeping up his cheek. I knew it! He had…He had some kind of sickness today! Ha, I'm a friggin' genius! Wait… Then I should probably take him to the Tsunade no baa-chan, huh… Hmm… "Y-You!" Sasuke doesn't finish his sentence, sputtering as he turned even redder than before. What kind of dream did he have, anyway…?

Sakura-chan had that knowing grin on her face, starting to giggle at something only she, Kakashi-sensei, and Sasuke knew about, "Ara, Sasuke-kun…" she cooed coyly, batting her eyelashes at Sasuke just to annoy the heck out of him, even though it was half ruined by the giggles that interrupted her sentence, "Did you have a nice wet dream?"

…Wet dream? What the heck was that? A dream where you eat something really delicious and wet yourself?

A silence.

Why was everyone looking at me like that? I didn't do anything! Oh no wait… I didn't say that aloud or…did I? Aw heck no! Even Kakashi-sensei is looking at me! Kakashi-sensei and Sakura-cha look like they're about die from restraining their laughter… What, did I say something I shouldn't have?

A strangled snort erupted from Kakashi-sensei.

Then a strangled snicker erupted from Sakura-chan shortly after Kakashi-sensei's snort.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! What? De-Delicious thing? W-Wetting yourself from THAT? PUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Kakashi-sensei howled with laughter, clutching at his stomach as he punched down at the imaginary ground beneath his fist.

"HAHAHAHA! T-Tell me, Sasuke-kun! HAHAHAHA! In y-your dream! AHAHAHAHA! Which flavor… WAHAHAHAHA! ….Was Naruto! Kusu. PUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Even Sakura-chan gave up her fight with her laughter, falling over as she landed on her rear end, not even stopping to take a breath. Her laughter joined Kakashi-sensei's, echoing all through out the place, which ended up sounding like some kind of witches' laughter.

They didn't stop until tears were running down their face endlessly, laughing their guts out. Sasuke's face was really, really red. He opened his mouth to say something, but closed it again, unable to think up something to make them shut up. So when their laughter ceased a bit…

"Sasuke, what's a wet dream?" I asked him.

"Shut up, usuratonkachi!" he yelled with a red face, which triggered…

A stifled snort from Kakashi-sensei.

A strangled noise escaping from Sakura-chan.

"PUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" then they started to laugh again in unison, shamelessly howling out their amusement. Sasuke twitched with annoyance, his face red. Our training was postponed, due to Kakashi-sensei and Sakura-chan's stomachache when they finally stopped. They were even escorted to the hospital by the people passing by, who thought that they were having some kind of mental breakdown or a seizure.

The mystery of that 'wet dream' not solved yet… Hmm…

I guess I'll go ask Iruka-sensei when he buys me ramen today!

_**E N D FOR NOW**_

-

_**Alternate Ending:**_

The silver haired jounin leaned back languidly, trying to sooth away his stomachache by taking a long hot bath. _Ah, what a day_, he thought, a perverted smile starting to appear on his unmasked face, _Wet dreams… Puhuhu… Wetting yourself when you dream about eating something delicious… Puhahahahaha!_

Then he suddenly froze in his position, face turning pale with horror despite the hot water filling his bath right now. _'Aw, shit!'_ his eyes – well, only one since he still covered his sharingan eye – widened with sheer terror, the thought he had running frantically in his mind.

_Naruto doesn't know what wet dream is. He gets curious of it when he sees our reactions to the word. The first one he's gonna ask to find about it is…!_

**BBBBAAAAAAAMMMMM!**

His bathroom door suddenly was slammed open, ending in a pile of pointy planks. When the dusts and the bath steam cleared, standing at the door, was none other than an infuriated Iruka who was breathing in and out harshly with rage, his face red.

"**HATAKE KAKASHI, WHY YOU INSUFFERABLE PERVERT!"**

That night, Kakashi had one smug Uchiha watching him get beaten up by one enraged Iruka on a rampage.

And yes, it was really painful. _Realllyyyy paiiinnnfffuuulll..._

**THIS IS THE ENDING, I SWEAR!**

_**

* * *

****Author's Notes:** _

(runs away to hide in her closet)


	2. Chuunin to Chuunin

**Drabble 2. Chuunin to Chuunin**

**_Subject: Kiss and Sake_**

-

Their first kiss was a total accident.

The accident happened on their first day as a genin, where the whole entire occupants of their classroom watched them gaping when the force of Shikamaru's slight nudge sent Naruto and Sasuke's lips crashing with a loud 'chuu.' But after that horrible incident, the boys were one hundred percent sure that things like that won't happen ever again.

Too bad that the boys were one hundred percent wrong.

Their second kiss happened on their week after the bridge fight at the Wave Country, when they were arguing with their face close to one another and Sakura 'accidentally' shoved Naruto onto Sasuke. Sakura squealed something about the 'the sweet, the fluffy, the uber cuteness' when she took a picture of them petrified with their lips against each other's, and then waltzed off suddenly, shaking the Polaroid picture in her hand giddily.

And then the third kiss, after the great fight between Konoha and Sound, unexpectedly came when they were 16.

"Congratulations!" Sakura, with her medic nin uniform on, smiled brightly, at the two boys sitting in front of her. They were sitting at Ichiraku, Naruto's favorite place, enjoying their dinner. Sure, it was supposed to be a big party, but they decided to have a small one instead. "You guys are chuunin now! I'm so proud of you!"

"Aww, thanks, Sakura-chan!" the blonde teen with whisker like scars grinned back at the pink haired girl, scratching the back of his head, "Though, I wish you could've become a chuunin with us…"

"Oh no! I'm just fine the way I am as the medic nin!" Sakura made little gestures with her hand, shaking her head, "As long as I stay as a medic nin, it doesn't matter if I'm technically a genin or not! We have our own systems of medic nin levels, you know!" She laughed and drank her water, glancing over at Sasuke for a brief moment to see how he felt about his promotion.

Sasuke only gave her a barely audible grin, but didn't do anything else. He was _the_ Uchiha Sasuke after all.

"Ma, now that you guys are chuunin, I guess that means you won't be under my guidance, nah?" the silver haired jounin beside the pink haired girl gave a grin even though you couldn't tell if it was a grin with that stupid mask on. "Huh, that means I'll probably get a new genin team and watch the little brats with high pitched voice try to take the bell from me…"

"I'm pretty much sure that they won't be same as us!" Naruto grinned cheekily, "After all, we, the Sharingan Hatake Kakashi's elite trio, were the best!"

Maybe that sounded a little arrogant, but it was true… Kakashi's elite trio was known throughout the whole world. They were already strong, but they were getting stronger even now… Kakashi thought that maybe they could surpass even the Legendary Sannin some day. Unlike the mistakes the sannin made, Kakashi's trio was bound together strongly after the fight.

"So, since you guys are now...hmm…16, and became a chuunin just today, I'll now teach you two the importance and the joy of…" the silver haired jounin reached a hand inside his pocket that usually contained the infamous 'Icha Icha Paradise,' only to take out- "…the Icha Icha Series and the sake." Indeed, the familiar orange book with big fat red NC-17 at the cover page and a corked sake bottle were in his grasp.

Naruto looked horrified. Sasuke stared unbelievingly at the orange book and the bottle. Sakura, while looking a bit shocked outside, was screaming with joy inside at the plan she just devised. She was a closet yaoi fan girl, if you didn't know. Yes, surprising, since she was known to have the biggest crush on her dark haired teammate. Kakashi only grinned giddily, taking in his students' reactions with satisfaction.

_An hour later…_

"HAHAHAHA! That ish sho aweshome Kakashi-shenshei!" Naruto said giddily, his words all slurring together in a sentence, "I shink I undershtand da joy of da Isha Isha Paradaishu!" Then Naruto giggled, plopping his face right onto the innocent looking(?) orange book. Naruto, not surprisingly, got drunk after couple cups of sake; probably under 10 cups.

Sakura drank at least three times more than Naruto, but she looked as if she only drank a cup of water instead of sake. Not only that, Kakashi noted with fear, that strange glint in her eyes was probably the thing that kept her from getting drunk. The pink haired girl kept her composure, hiding that almost maniacal glint effectively, and commenting on how gross Icha Icha Paradise is just like how she'd act when she's actually normal.

Sasuke didn't look drunk, but he was drunk. His face was slightly redder than usual, and he seemed to have trouble with concentrating on whatever they were trying to say. With his glazed charcoal eyes, the Uchiha unconsciously reached for the bottle of sake to pour himself another cup.

"Fufufu, that's it, Naruto, drink it up," watching Naruto drinking another cup, Sakura said giddily, the evil aura swirling around her, thus scaring her teacher, who was a strong drinker and wasn't even close to getting drunk yet, "Drink it and I'll slip this pink pill in Sasuke-kun's drink and you two shall- I mean, it'll be good for your soul!"

"Heh heh, shenks, Shakura-shan," Naruto gave her a giddy smile of his own, oblivious to her evil presence, and chugged down the small bottle of sake that was in front of him before Kakashi even had chance to stop him from doing that. Kakashi watched nervously as Naruto continued to giggle some more, his blonde head tipping back slightly, and felt a drop of sweat rolling off his face when Sakura slipped that pink pill in Sasuke's drink while pouring him a cup.

"Ara, it's now time to go, everyone," Sakura said to the drunken pair coyly after making sure that Sasuke drank the cup with the pill in it, pointedly shoving Kakashi out of the ramen stand, "Naruto, Sasuke-kun, you guys could take care of yourselves, right? Since I'm a little drunk myself, I'll have Kakashi-sensei," she gave a meaningful look at the teacher who was standing outside, "…escort me back my house, okay?"

Of course it was a lie. But who could've known that she was secretly reaching for her camera hidden in her kunai pouch? How could a pair of drunken guys notice that maniacal glint her emerald eyes when they were one hundred percent drunk?

But to Kakashi's growing horror, Sasuke seemed to not hear her, and Naruto only happily nodded, "Of coursh, Shakura-shan!" he hiccupped, giving her a wobbly but giddy grin, "We could take care of ourshelves, right, Shashuke?"

"Okay then! Take care!" And then the pink haired girl rushed out of the stand after throwing some money on the counter, dragging horrified looking jounin along with her monstrous power, despite the fact that she drank a lot of sake. Naruto blinked after her confusedly, but only helped Sasuke get up. With a small giggle, the blonde dragged the dark haired boy outside, leaning heavily on the other boy to walk.

After taking couple steps, when they neared a dark alley, Sasuke suddenly grabbed Naruto's wrist, dragging him into the darkness of the alleyway.

"S-Shashuke, wh-what the-" the drunk teen let out an abnormally high squeak, before he was slammed against the alley wall. "Sha…Shashuke?" Naruto slurred out hesitantly to the silent teen, whose face was covered by his dark bangs. Because of the shadow that was cast on his face, Naruto wasn't able to read the teen's expression.

"N-Naruto…" Sasuke whispered shakily, his hands on Naruto's shoulders trembling, "I-… I can't take it anymore…"

"Wha-…Shashu… _Mmpphhgg_!"

So thus that began our beloved couple's third kiss… Well, technically, it'd also lead to their third, fourth, fifth…countless number of kisses…but we'll not go into thedetails...

And then somehow it led to the part where Sasuke slid his hand up Naruto's thigh. Sasuke disentangled his tongue from Naruto's and broke off the kiss with a wet sound, a thin line of saliva trailing between their lips before it snapped in the air. Tasting an odd but somewhat addicting flavor of miso and sake, Sasuke licked away the slivery substance that trailed down Naruto's chin from their rough kiss, and then gave a light kiss to Naruto's lips with a soft 'chuu.'

Naruto panted, his blue eyes glazed and his face flushed, and still drunk. After taking in Naruto's appearance smugly, Sasuke attacked Naruto once again, this time knocking the blonde down to the ground. They went all the way to Z, and no details just because it's a PG-13 fanfiction.Naruto snuggled against the other teen's chest in his sleep and Sasuke gave a light kiss against the blonde's forehead.

"I like you a lot, Naruto…" he whispered fondly against Naruto's forehead.

The only thing they didn't notice was a certain pink haired girl crouching at the curb of the alley, drooling while she flipped countless numbers of Polaroid pictures taken from Sasuke and Naruto's earlier activity.

_**E N D ! F O R ! N O W**_

-

**_Omake:_**

Looking around, a certain pink haired girl trotted down the street, her emerald eyes constantly moving left to right to check if there was any people watching her. Sakura didn't stop until she reached an abandoned shack near way back of the village, which had graffiti written all over its wooden walls. Carefully taking another look around her surroundings, Sakura knocked the door three times with her knuckles, kicked it two times, and then slapped it once. The door creaked open, and the pink haired girl boldly stepped in, closing the door behind her gently.

"I'm sorry for being late, but I've got what you wanted," she declared to the darkness surrounding her, watching as eyes with maniacal glints light up, "It's the newest one – freshly made. I just came back from the scene I had the luck to witness."

"Nicely done, Sakura-chan," one of the figures in the dark cackled evilly, "So, what items did you use?"

"Oh, it only required some free sake and _the_ pink pill, actually," the pink haired girl shrugged to the said figure, grinning evil- err, triumphantly, "They went all the way to Z."

Gasps were heard in the shack.

"By the way," Sakura twitched, a vein starting to pop out of her attractively large forehead, "What's up with this darkness thing? It's incredibly corny, you know! It makes us seem as if we're doing something illegal! And I thought I was the corniest of all of us!"

"Ah, sorry, Sakura-chan," a soft voice said sheepishly, motion of shrugging seen through the darkness, "Ino-chan wanted some drama, so we turned the light off…" And then the light flickered on, revealing the other 3 occupants of the abandoned shack.

A proud Ino in blue pajama stared back, a smile curling at her lips, "Good thing that we convinced our parents that we wanted a slumber party, nah, Tenten?"

"A very good timing too, eh? Now we get to witness the birth of the cutest couple in the Konoha history," the brown haired girl in pink pajama sighed with pleasure, her hair down, "After countless times of revising our plans… Man, those two were so clueless!"

"Though," Hinata in black pajama with a sketchpad said with an evil smile that was not destined to be on her sweet face, "It was all worth it at the end…"

The pink haired girl held up the little video in her hand, her eyes glinting maniacally, "So who wants to watch it now?" she cooed, shaking the item she was holding teasingly.

The other three pairs of eyes lighted up with that same maniacal glint.

**_I N S E R T ! T H E ! V I D E O ! S C E N E_**

-

**Author's Notes:**

Thanks for everybody who bothered to read this useless piece of crap! (cries with joy) Thank you so much for reading it! I'm so happy! I love all of my readers, but I somehow don't have any opportunity to thank them! X3 So…!

hujin: Heh heh, what do you think? ;3

Lady of Gryffindor: Aww, thanks! But we all love to torture little Naruto! XD

Chakra: Glad that you enjoyed it! Oh no! Don't die from laughter! I love all of my readers! X3

Me: I'm really glad that you liked my idea! X3 It was inspired by a lot of Japanese and Korean fanarts where they draw Sasuke and Naruto in different ranks!


	3. SideStory :: Sakura

**Side Story #1. Sakura's Way of Yaoi Fan Girl**

_**Subject: How She Ended Up Becoming One**_

**Warning: **Not work safe. PG-15 warning. Margaret, if you're looking at this, don't read it.

-

When Haruno Sakura, a girl of beautiful age of 12, an age where the women start preparing for relationships, found out that Sasuke had someone else to fill her 'supposed' spot, she was furious. Of course she was. That was no surprise. She was the dark haired nin's faithful teammate, had crush on the said nin since like…forever, and deeply believed that if she believed and tried, anything could come true. After all, she did become stronger in response to her desire to become more helpful to her teammates.

She had a lot of chuunin trailing after her already. So she was confident that she was going to win the Uchiha's heart, not even realizing what was going on between her teammates. Her heart was broken into million pieces when the Uchiha prodigy calmly told her that he was attracted to the blonde haired shinobi. She was so depressed she spent a whole entire week weeping in her bedroom. The mentioned blonde haired boy came to visit her everyday during that period, but she only locked everybody out, absorbed in self pity.

So when she did come out, she avoided her teammates like a plague. She spent her days in Ino's flower shop, despite the constant company of Shikamaru. After 3 days, a frustrated Shikamaru dragged Ino away, and told her to get over it. So she went to Tenten, but Tenten just happened to be away sharpening her weapon specialist skills away from Konoha. Sakura ended up going over to Hinata's, under the watchful gaze of her father and her overprotective cousin Neji. During that period, she and Hinata bonded, and became good friends, even though Neji constantly glared at her with his overprotective cousin glare.

After thinking through and deciding that she actually didn't mind Naruto having relationship with Sasuke, she started meeting them again, apologizing for her behavior. She felt uncomfortable at first because of the new information she learned, but she quickly adapted again, following the past routines. Even though she didn't mind Naruto with Sasuke, she still wasn't uncomfortable when they shared some…_moments_ in her presence. They were guys after all. But before being guys they were her friends, so she kept quiet, looking away when they did have some moments.

And then, that day came. The most important day of her life.

Sakura, a girl of beautiful age of 14, was asked to go check on Naruto and Sasuke by Kakashi-sensei, since they didn't show up for 3 hours that day. So she went over to Naruto's apartment. No sign of them. She headed over to the Uchiha's house, hoping that she'd find them over there, feeling grumpy because she woke up at 6:30 A.M. for nothing.

A limping Naruto and an extra smug Sasuke met her at the door.

"What's wrong with you, Naruto?" Sakura frowned, poking at Naruto's back curiously. Naruto immediately scooted away from her hand, hissing between his clenched teeth in pain and wincing noticeably. "Are you in pain? Do you need a doctor?"

"NO!" Naruto blurted out before flushing and looking away, scratching back of his neck, "I-I mean… I'm fine Sakura-chan… Don't worry about me…"

"Eh?" Sakura squinted, her index finger raised to point at – "What are those red things on your neck?"

"A-Ano, Sakura-chan, I-I…" Naruto stuttered squeakily, covering his neck with his hand.

"…You better be careful," Sakura said seriously, curious as she watched Naruto gulped nervously, side-glancing at the smug Uchiha, "There are a lot of mosquitoes around in Konoha these days, since it's summer. Those itch a lot, don't they? Mosquito bites these days are really itch, you know!"

"Heh? Hahaha… Yeah!" Naruto agreed with her, nodding eagerly. Something was strange about him, but she decided to let it pass. Naruto was always strange… Well, not _strange_, but…you couldn't exactly call him normal…

"Sakura," the pink haired girl turned to the dark haired boy, blinking at the yellow package labeled _For Sakura_ held in his pale hand, "Hyuuga wanted me to give this to you."

"Hinata-chan?" Sakura asked herself softly, accepting the yellow package carefully. (Well, even though she didn't know for sure if it was from Hinata or not…Sasuke only knew two Hyuuga and she highly doubted that Hyuuga Neji would send her anything except threats and blackmail materials.) She shook the said material to check what was inside the package without looking at it. A rustle of paper and loud rattles were heard. "Well… Thank you, Sasuke-kun. By the way, the training was postponed because you guys didn't show up, alright?"

"Right," they both said, nodding their head. Sakura smiled at them one more time before slipping her sandals on and bidding them good bye. As soon as the door closed, a slam was heard before Naruto sputtered out some stifled words. The pink haired medic-nin-in-training sighed and cocked her head to one side curiously – a nasty habit of hers when she was curious – and opened the neat looking yellow envelope, finding a note, a camera, and films. She slowly reached and took out the folded note, and opened it.

The note was hand written neatly. _Typical Hinata_, she thought, smiling, before turning her green eyes to the note.

_Sakura-chan._

_Inside the package, you probably found a camera and this note._

_I have a favor to ask you… As soon as Sasuke-kun's door closes, can you go to the back of the house near the room they're staying in? There should be a window for that room. I know there're a lot of rooms in the Uchiha estate, but it shouldn't be hard to find because they are extremely loud. Mind you, the estate is surrounded by trees, so you need to find the right room. _

_Once you locate the window, hide behind this secret place I found. There should be a tree, or trees, if you want to call it, in front of that window. Climb up the middle one and hide yourself within the leaves. Since the tree is really green and bushy, you should be able to hide yourself pretty well. _

_And of course, don't forget to hide your chakra. Naruto-kun would be…too preoccupied to notice, but Sasuke-kun will notice your presence._

_Once doing that, scoot closer to the base of the tree. There you should be able to take good pictures of them. _

_Will you take pictures of them until the film runs out? There should be plenty. Since Sasuke-kun likes to torture Naruto-kun in the beginning, they should last at least about…an hour and a half. Please stay until they are done. I owe you big, Sakura-chan. I'll invite all of the girls over around this weekend. I'll make dango and tea._

_Thanks a lot!_

_-Hinata_

Sakura was confused, but she found herself walking toward the place Hinata instructed her to. _Pictures? Sasuke and Naruto? Why bother hiding in a tree like a stalker when you could ask them for the pictures? _Sakura sighed. Hinata was sometimes just too hard to figure out despite her somewhat simple personality. She was a good friend though. Sakura never could refuse her favors. Actually, it was her first favor, so Sakura didn't mind.

Just like Hinata said, Sakura was able to hear Sasuke and Naruto from the back. (Geez, they _were_ loud.) There was an open window. Suppressing her chakra, Sakura rushed over to the open window and listened, crouching down.

"S-Sasuke! What the hell are you doing! My back still hurts, you asshole!"

"Hn."

"'Hn?' What do you mean 'hn'? Damn it, you jerk! Have a heart, dang it! I told you! My back still hurts!"

Ah, so she found the right room.

Sakura crawled over to the middle tree just like Hinata instructed, and jumped up with her incredible ninja speed. Once on one of the thick branch, Sakura crept closer to the center of the tree, hiding herself within the green leaves. Checking if her chakra is hidden well – she was always good at controlling her chakra, so it was pretty easy – Sakura took out the innocent looking camera, balancing herself so she could focus the camera on two preoccupied boys.

Sakura took one picture. They didn't really seem to be doing anything though… She thought to herself, watching the boys tussle on the bed through the lens.

And then that was when it all went downhill for her.

"S-Sasu! Mmmmpphhh!"

…Sakura gaped, her mouth wide open in shock.

Her teammates…her teammates were kissing each other! More like, Sasuke was molesting Naruto, but! They were doing things just like in those…rated R movie! They were using tongues! Or more like, Sasuke was using his tongue to molest Naruto's, but!

Sakura pressed down on the button shakily, hearing the click and buzz of the camera. That was two out of 86 in totals.

Sounds drifted out of the open window, and Sakura flushed, her face turning red with embarrassment. Here she was, spying on her teammates, who were making out as if the world was ending! Oh, the things she did for her friend!

After a while though, it was pretty okay… Sakura thought with her still flushed face, taking few more shots of the boys, All they seem to be doing is kissing… It can't get any worse.

She was wrong.

When the dark head started to move down that sprawled out tanned body, Sakura almost stumbled out of the tree, her green eyes widened beyond their limits and her face brightly turning red. She almost felt the steam coming out of her ears.

She took more pictures shakily, hoping that it'd end soon. It was too embarrassing. It was getting too hot out here. She wanted to get out of the tree she was currently hiding in.

Oh…my…

_She didn't know that you could do that with your tongue!_

When the sounds started to get louder, Sakura, sweat trickling down her face, gulped and took more pictures. As the blonde figure let out a particularly loud sound, Sasuke looked up, and _smirked_ at her. Gaping with her mouth hanging open, she took the last picture, hearing the camera rewinding the last film she had. Sakura checked her clock. Exactly an hour and a half. Just like Hinata said.

Sakura felt like she didn't need any of those sex educations any more.

With that the pink haired girl left, feeling lightheaded while clutching the innocent looking camera to her chest. Her legs wobbled and trembled, but they didn't notice anything…well, more like Naruto didn't notice anything.

Oh my.

-

After handing the film to Hinata, who was extremely giddy when she received it, Sakura found herself lying on her bed at night, staring at the ceiling while the scenes she saw in the afternoon replayed over and over again in her head. She groaned and banged her head against the wall right next to her, hoping that it'd clear the horrifying mental pictures involving her teammates somehow.

"Sakura! Stop making noises! It's 11:45 P.M., you know!" her mother screeched from her room down the hall.

Sakura stopped banging her head, but started bopping herself over the head with her fist instead.

The images won't get out of her head, damn it!

Not only did the images from after noon give her insomnia, it gave sort of weird feelings bubbling up inside her stomach. It gave her a strong urge to…squeal, drool, have a massive nosebleed, take more pictures, and spy on them with binoculars instead of just a camera. What were these feelings? Why did she feel giddy as she ran the pictures over and over again in her head?

Sakura sighed and sat up from her bed gingerly. Obviously, she wouldn't be able to sleep for the night. Might as well as quench those strange feelings. Putting on a coat, Sakura jumped out the window, her pink fluffy bunny slipper clad feet leading her to the Uchiha estate with great speed only kunoichi like herself could produce. And there did she witness the similar scenes from the afternoon again.

Oh my, this time it seems like Naruto is paying back right now.

Feeling sated as much as the couple in Sasuke's room, Sakura pushed down the urge to squeal like a Sasuke fan girl and left, hoping that Hinata or Ino would have answers for this.

When she did talk it over with Hinata and Ino over a cup of tea and 5 dango, they, with their unusually dangerous eyes, were squealing, saying something about another high ranked yaoi fan girl with resources between their giggles and high pitched voice.

Sakura, a beautiful young girl of age 14, discovered the joy and the wonder of yaoi that day.

And she never stopped going back to the Uchiha estate.

_**E N D O F H E R S T O R Y**_

-

**Author's Notes:**

My brain is so corrupted. (runs away to clean out the contents)(Oi, you're only 14!)  
Thank you for reading this! And happy late Valentine's Day! May you have another SasuNaru filled year!  
(sigh) Korean SasuNaru fanfictions make me feel all floaty and happy…  
Think I should bump up the rating to R? (wonders)

Hamsterbox: I'm glad that you like my story! (is happy) Thanks for reading this crappy fanfiction!  
Angstling: Heh heh… Beautiful mental images, no? I wuv you too. (sparkle sparkle)  
Eudoxus: Glad that you like it! I want the Polaroid pictures Sakura has…  
Hujin: We'll find out in the next drabble… (ku ku ku ku ku…)  
DaSuicide: Thank you! (heart)  
Chakra: We'll all find out how they react at the Konoha yaoi fan girls… (evil laugh) The only reason why I didn't write the video scene is because it's all censorcensorcensor (gets hit by random rocks)(you're only 14+)  
Lela951: LOL XD I'm only 14 though! A 14 year old with issues and a damaged/corrupted brain that was all caused by Korean SasuNaru fanfictions, all Rated 12 or 15. I didn't even know that the fanfiction was even funny in a weird way! XD Thanks for reading!


	4. Sound to Leaf :: Part I

"Whhaaattt?" Tsunade had to cringe back at the sheer loudness of the voice, one of her brown eyes squinting in reflex, "You can't be serious!" The blonde was yelling at her with an unusually soprano voice, which should've been bordering on lower alto and higher tenor normally. And it certainly did not sound pretty when he was screaming like a girl. "Why would you want me to do that at a time like this? I'm telling you! I don't have time for a genin team! I need to-…"

"-find Sasuke yeah, yeah, blah, blah, so shut your trap," she cut off Naruto's statement rather impatiently, wanting to get over it as soon as possible, "It's been long, brat. The Uchiha brat is completely out of control, and there's nothing you could do to bring him back."

The blonde jounin's mouth opened in protest, but closed it when Tsunade hissed at him warningly. The jounin slumped noticeably. His expression saddened only for a brief moment before it disappeared. Instead, he pouted at her, eyes watering to his typical puppy eyes and his lower lip sticking out a bit. She stuck her tongue out at him childishly in return, knowing that it wouldn't be good to pity him, before returning to the file-in-question again. "So anyways, I entrust this team with you, brat. Better take care of them well."

"Ha, fine," Naruto rolled his eyes, sighing exasperatedly while shoving his hand into his jounin uniform pocket, "I will take care of them well."

"Oi, oi, don't be like that," Tsunade chided, clucking her tongue in annoyance, "This team is rather unusual, or special if you want the optimistic term, you know. Other jounin instructors dodged them as if they were some kind of bomb when we were assigning them. Interesting dynamics, I would say, even though the teachers who taught them before graduation wouldn't agree with me...well, except for Iruka. But he doesn't count because he's like that to all of his students," The Godaime leaned back in her chair, blowing her blonde bangs out of her eyes, "We need somebody to guide them properly before they promote to chuunin. And besides, there is someone you might be interested in."

"Ho?" a slender eyebrow rose at that statement, "And who might that be?"

The blonde woman grinned roughly, sitting up slowly as her serious but slightly amused brown eyes met his blue ones. "Uchiha…Shiro."

**OXOXOXOXO**

**Sound to Leaf: Part I**

Subject: Mistakes

**Warning:** Spoilers, very mild hints of shounen-ai. A lot of grammar errors. Just kindly ignore them…

**OXOXOXOXO**

_Interesting team_, Naruto noted from his spot behind the door, his blue eyes studying each of his new students. _Well balanced and very obnoxious in general…_ _So much like my old genin team… _The instructor's eyes saddened for a moment, before it disappeared into the depth of great fascination and amusement. _In fact…a little too much. It's starting to freak me out a bit…_

"Ichi, stop annoying Shiro-kun!" a blonde girl with a strange, twisted expression between laziness and accusation half yelled and half drawled it to the pale eyed boy beside her, who was trying to provoke some other boy. If it wasn't for her screeching voice, Naruto wouldn't have even guessed that she was a girl with that short hair and lazy expression… Even the other boy was more feminine than her! "How troublesome! Our new jounin instructor's gonna come and we at least need to be…presentable! He's gonna think we're some kind of snot-nosed brats who doesn't even know how to throw a friggin' kunai!"

_Damn straight_, Naruto muttered mentally.

"Hai, hai!" the pale eyed boy said exasperatedly, throwing his hands up in submission, "I'm sorry, alright? Sheesh! So much for irritating the genius boy!" That pair of pale eyes shifted colors, moving from clear shade of blue to the trademark white with a slight tint of light purple. Then a burst of green was seen before shifting to light red. Naruto never saw such Byakugan like that before... Some kind of rare type, maybe?

Naruto couldn't see the other boy since the door limited his range of visions, but he was able to catch a glimpse of black hair. "Hn." Naruto twitched slightly. What was up with those cold bastards and their little 'hn' or silence? Great. Another one in his life. 4 cold bastards driving him up the wall. Joy.

Abruptly, Naruto opened the sliding door with just enough power to get the kids' attention. (He preferred flashy entrances, but didn't want to break the door since Iruka-sensei would throw a fit if he did.) Three heads turned to him, 6 eyes widening with surprise, to Naruto's glee. Naruto quickly ran his eyes over them. A girl who slightly looked like a guy with short blonde hair and dark eyes was wearing a lazy look. A boy, a Hyuuga judging by his pale eyes, pretty much looked like a girl with his big eyes and long black hair. The other boy looked too familiar, much to his distaste.

"Yo," he grinned, waving at them. They, exception to that familiar looking boy, waved back at him hesitantly, nervous. "Let's make ourselves comfortable and…hmm…introduce ourselves, hmm?"

"Sensei," the Hyuuga blinked at him curiously, raising his hand up almost too cutely, "Why don't you tell us about yourself first?"

Whoa, déjàvu.

"Well…" Naruto started, scratching his head underneath the hitai-ate, "My name is Uzumaki Naruto, I'm sure you all know me from either your parents or…rumors. I like many things in the world, but there are also several things I really do hate passionately," Naruto's clear sky blue eyes darkened with bitterness and extreme hatred before it disappeared, leaving behind a somewhat forced glint of mischievousness, "My dream is none of your concern, and just know that I do have hobbies. That's all you need to know."

"You know sensei," the blonde girl sighed, as if she was explaining something she had to repeat more than 100 times, "Even though you said a lot, we didn't really learn anything about you… How troublesome." The Nara crossed her arms, an expression twisted between annoyance and laziness crossing her face. Except that peculiar half-half facial expression, Naruto swore that that girl was a Shikamaru clone.

Again, Naruto felt another déjàvu washing over him before he pushed it away into the little corner of his mind. Scratching his head meekly, he asked lamely, "Ah… Well… Any other questions?" Even though he respected Kakashi-sensei a lot, even though he almost considered Kakashi-sensei as his father figure since his died along with his birth, he did not want to be a Kakashi-sensei in his student's life.

The long black haired Hyuuga raised his hand. Naruto sighed in exasperation. Is this how Kakashi-sensei felt when he had to deal with his past self? If so, he could now see why Kakashi-sensei always seemed to be bored, blank, or exasperated whenever he had something to say or ask. Or all of the mentioned above, which was the expression Kakashi-sensei wore most of the times, if he called correctly. …not that he was admitting that he was annoying, of course. "Yes, Hyuuga?"

"It's Ichi, Naruto-sensei!" he chirped, rather extremely preppy comparing to other Hyuuga in the household; and from what Naruto knew from his experiences with the Hyuuga people, preppy was not in their genes. Shy, maybe, as proven by Hinata and Hanabi, but preppy? Hyuuga blood contained the dominant genes, so Naruto couldn't see where the heck Ichi could've got his preppy gene between Neji and Hinata. Hinata was nice, shy and bright, but was far away from preppy from what Naruto could tell. And Neji? Don't even start there. Neji was anything but happy little words, like…well…happy. "Do you like anybody?"

Naruto blinked confusedly. "I like everybody in this village," he said hesitantly, not sure what Ichi meant by that question. Did he mean in general or…wait, was he asking for his love life?

"You know what I mean," Hyuuga, no, Ichi said coyly, side-glancing at the Nara girl sitting next to him, who just gave him an uninterested look in return. Ah.

"That…" Naruto licked his lips, as the pale eyed boy leaned forward in definite interest. Even if the Nara girl refused to show that she was interested, she also leaned forward, her supposedly bored eyes twinkling with the typical fan girl glee underneath. (He knew the fan girl eyes when he saw one. He had to go through it when he was a genin…for the whole entire time he spent with a certain pink haired girl.) "…is none of your business." …_person is someone I don't know anymore._ Naruto thought mentally after he spoke, but didn't say it out loud.

The girly boy visibly deflated, pouting slightly as he shamelessly gave off that disappointed aura. The supposedly uninterested girl also let out her own disappointment, but didn't do anything obvious. Sighing, Naruto rubbed his temple, trying to not look too annoyed, "Now any other question if you're done poking at my love life?"

A silence.

"Good. Introduce yourself," Naruto said passively, jerking his thumb at the Hyuuga boy, who immediately perked up at the motion. Grinning widely, something Naruto did not see in the Hyuuga family often – a smirk or a shy smile maybe but not a grin – Ichi played around with the Konoha hitai-ate around his neck, just like how Hinata wore it back when she was a genin. For a moment, Naruto saw a blonde boy wearing ridiculously orange clothes fiddling around with the headband overlapping the dark haired boy.

"Well – I'm Hyuuga Ichi," he said proudly, putting an emphasis to his last name, "I like udon a lot, especially when kaa-san, tou-san, or ba-san makes it for me at home. What I hate is the moment when I have to watch them move around in the kitchen cooking while I sit at the table sniffing at the great scent of udon because they don't allow me in kitchen." Ichi wrinkled his nose in distaste, frowning slightly. "My dream is…to make the whole entire Hyuuga clan acknowledge my existence, my potential, instead of just tolerating me because I'm the son of _the_ great Hyuuga Neji." Momentarily, his hands lingered on his eye area, which was constantly shifting color, before he brightened, "I guess my hobby is to tease Hanabi no ba-chan."

The blonde jounin was somewhat surprised at the familiar words repeated by a person other than him, but didn't say anything. "Next. You dark haired boy over there."

_Uchiha Shiro. _His eyes narrowed with the memories the surname brought, watching as the dark hairs gathered in a mid-high ponytail swayed along with the wind, a pair of equally familiar but unfamiliar dark eyes pin him down with that typical Uchiha glare. A mild one compared to the ones he experienced before, but still there. (Damn, it showed potential too… He'd be the replica of certain people he knew from the same bloodline.)

"My name is Uchiha Shiro," the boy murmured stoically, looking at Naruto above his clasped hands, "I hate plenty of things there are in the world. There is almost nothing I do like, however, so I don't see why it matters if you do know what I like or hate. I don't have a _dream_, something only fools think of, but I do have an ambition I need to accomplish." If possible, his gaze turned even more sharper, 3 notches up from his previous one. "That is to kill this one man, and destroy this cursed Uchiha bloodline."

There was a tense silence even the sword could not cut. Ichi looked slightly scared, a little freaked out, and Mitsuki didn't betray any emotion, except for her typical lazy look that was crossed over with a mild type of admiration only fan girls possessed.

A familiar face momentarily appeared over the dark haired Uchiha boy was, flashing red eyes with three commas spiraling around the pupil gazing at him above those pale hands, lips cruelly smirking, and eyes only showing emptiness. Pushing the thought away hastily, Naruto looked at the Nara girl expectantly, nodding at her for her to continue.

As if blinking out of daze, she looked out of it for a moment, before she slapped her cheeks and got back on track. "As you'd know, Naruto-sensei, I'm a Nara. Nara Mitsuki," she said lazily, much like her father, "I like to watch clouds in the afternoon and stars in the evening. What I hate the most is trouble, especially when I have to think about it before doing anything," she sighed, slouching lazily, "Also, materialistically, I like Shiro-kun a lot as a fan girl. And, I don't necessarily hate Ichi, but I'd like him a little more if he didn't do anything stupid. He's such a troublesome kid."

Ichi looked troubled, practically hyperventilating as he gasped for breath in shock, his pale eyes shifting colors every once in a while. Sighing with slight exhaustion that came with spending only 30 minutes with these kids, Naruto called the meeting off after telling them about the survival training. That would determine if they officially become genin or not. Then Naruto fashionably poofed out of their sight, complete with the little clouds and the Konoha's trademark leaves.

At that very night, Naruto dreamed after a long absence of one, gasping for breath unconsciously and sweating as warm pair of dark eyes swam in his mind, accompanied by a mild but honest smile that seemed to be too familiar. Even when Naruto woke up, shuddering, the dream haunted his vision, his thoughts, twisted with his past.

"_Naruto…"_

**OXOXOXOXO**

It was a good thing that Mitsuki was at least civil with Ichi, or else they'd have failed the test for sure.

Mitsuki pulled off a nice Kagemane no Jutsu after Ichi distracted him with Jyuken that was much weaker than Neji's but still showed potential. (For some strange reason, Ichi didn't activate his byakugan while using Jyuken, but Naruto wasn't bothered about it, since Ichi's aims were correct.) Since it was a clone that was bound, he just made it self-explode and break the jutsu since it was much weaker than Shikamaru's, to their great disappointment. But then again, Naruto wasn't called as the one of the strongest shinobi in Konoha for nothing. Then the Uchiha rushed at him with one of his Katon jutsu, successfully burning off few of his Kagebunshin he cast to confuse the kids. They pulled off a better teamwork than his old team ever did, and it gave him a small hope. Maybe…just maybe…

"I want a C-ranked mission!" Ichi bellowed at Iruka-sensei, who blinked at him with surprise. They were handing in their report for the last mission they had, which was to rescue the noble lady's cat. To tell the truth, Naruto wanted to rip out that Lady's throat at her attitude toward him, for she knew what kind of 'thing' he was, but restrained it. "All the D-ranked missions are stupid! You know that we could do so much better than that, Iruka-sensei!"

Behind him, Mitsuki silently nodded in agreement, and Shiro was just staring straight ahead, eyes unmoving as the girly boy buzzed with distaste, letting it out shamelessly. Naruto noted the scratch marks covering his arms. "I know that you are going easy on me because I'm only a genin like anybody else and the fact that I'm the heir of Hyuuga clan, but I don't care! I'm going to do anything to make them accept me and this is only a part of it!"

Silence flooded over in that place, most of the adults blinking with surprise at Ichi's outburst. Naruto shook his head with amusement, a genuine grin playing on his lips for once in couple years as the Godaime and Iruka burst in laughter. Ichi looked confused and his determination wavered for a moment, but he still kept it.

"That…that brat…" Tsunade gasped for breath, tears pooling at her brown eyes, "He's…he's just like…when you were genin…Naruto…!" She collapsed in another fit of laughter, head burrowed in her arms as her shoulders shook uncontrollably with silent laughter.

Iruka was the first one to calm down, wiping at his eyes as he smiled at Ichi fondly. "I remember this moment like 16 years ago when you were a genin Naruto." At that, Mitsuki and Ichi looked at him with curiosity, but Naruto ignored it, pouting slightly at Iruka. "It was such a long time ago… You were so bright back then…" Iruka looked at him sadly. His eyes were asking him. _What happened to you, Naruto? You changed so much…_

"Yeah…I was, wasn't I…" he said quietly, a painful grin on his face.

In solemn silence, the godaime and Iruka assigned them a C-ranked mission. His team was silent also, swept by the mood. Of course, they didn't predict the trouble that was brought with the very mission.

The goal was this: Accompany Hina-san to the Amegakure, the Hidden Rain Village.

Hina-san was the head mistress of the village, bearing the task of bringing the sacred item to her village safely, without breaking it, or getting it stolen by their rival, the Rock Village. They ran into many Rock nins in the middle, chuunin, jounin, and a really talented genin that went by the name Kuro. Naruto ended up dealing with all chuunin and jounin, while the children set off to stop that genin from getting his hand on Hina-san.

**OXO**

_Blocking another kunai flying at his side, he yelled at his students hastily, "Go after him!" His students looked at him hesitantly, as he distractedly deflected an attack heading toward his head. He turned to them again after finishing one of the jounin off cleanly by slitting his throat, "Go! Protect Hina-san! Try to get to her first and run away from him as far as you can! And if you do succeed running away, go to the Amegakure! I'll catch up! Hurry!"_

_His genin team scrambled to their feet as fast as they can and disappeared out of sight, heading toward the way Kuro and Hina-san ran off to._

"_Shit!" Naruto cursed as one of the shuriken thrown at him grazed his cheek. A faint metallic scent of his own blood filled his sensitive nose. Annoyed, he scowled at the ame jounin and gingerly wiped at his cheek, wincing a little at the pain. Through the experiences of being hurt in many various ways, Naruto found out that paper cuts always felt much worse than a hole in your stomach. He grimaced at the amount of blood on the back of his hand, even he felt the Kyuubi already applying his chakra to his wound to heal it. The blonde haired jounin leaped with a kunai in his hand, and before the jounin blinked, he was dead, a kunai in his throat._

_The Konoha jounin instructor rushed through the forest with the gracefulness of a fox, using his hypersensitive senses to avoid the chuunin and jounin as much as he can. Due to the rain sprinkling at the moment, which caused the air to be extremely humid, it was hard to breathe and go at full speed, since his blonde bangs kept on plastering to his blue eyes. Every once in a while, Naruto paused in his rush to wipe at the bangs blocking his vision, annoyed. This was when he seriously wanted to have the Konoha hitai-ate with him. But too bad he didn't. It was safely tucked in under his pillow at home._

_Irritated, Naruto threw a shuriken at another presence sneaking up on him, who became silent after a crack of bones and a thunk of his shuriken embarking itself into the tree bark. The sickening sound of head rolling was heard and Naruto sighed. He never was the one to like taking one's life, mission or not. He murmured a small prayer to the people he killed up till this moment and silently took off, disappearing into the trees._

_Getting to his students was his first priority. Poofing to his destination would only draw attention to his students, and even if Naruto was strong, he wasn't sure if he could deal with all those shinobi in one place at the same time. Also, his team would be in a risky situation, since they never killed before and was too inexperienced to deal with such strong ninjas._

_Kuro was a very strong genin, at a chuunin level at least, and he just knew that his students didn't stand a chance. Maybe Shiro had a chance against him, proven by his broader knowledge in a shinobi's techniques than other two, but unless he activated Sharingan, which he didn't, he'd have a very hard time. Even if he happened to defeat Kuro without Sharingan, he'd still be in a critical situation._

_Naruto anxiously increased his speed, despite the unpleasant feeling of water in his sandal, and the wet, squelching sound every time it came in contact with anything beneath his feet. 'Please be okay…Mitsuki, Ichi, and Shiro…!'_

_-_

"_You won't make it out of here alive," the rock genin growled at them behind his mask that was covering the top half of his face. They had caught him nearing Hina-san before they interrupted, and Kuro was upset that she had gotten away. He was so close, and the mistress scrambled away with the sacred item after the Konoha genin team yelled at her to get close to Amegakure as near as she can. Their instructor was taking care of all the hindrance she'd encounter, so they didn't worry about jounin team ambushing her._

_Ichi looked a little frightened, but that was expected since it was his first time facing off somebody else far better than him, other than Shiro. Mitsuki only threw Kuro an irritated and lazy look, even though she felt sicker than ever, fear and apprehensiveness taking a firm hold of her uncomfortably squirming stomach. Despite the atmosphere screaming 'Danger!' Shiro only snorted, smirking coolly at the genin from other village. Even with his typically long bangs plastering to his face, his icy glare still reached Kuro, making him shiver._

"_Che," Shiro only said, a confident smirk on his face, "Like as if you could actually kill us."_

_Enraged and insulted, Kuro did a series of hand seals quickly, too quickly for them to see the order, and yelled, "Konran no Jutsu! (Confusion technique)"_

_It felt weird, and all of their stomach felt cold, and it was not the influence of the rain, they all knew. Smirking confidently as the table turned on them, Kuro did another series of hand seals. "Kunai no Ame! (Rain of Kunai)" he yelled again, and all of the kunai around that scene rushed at him like metals attracted to magnet, and soared to the sky right above them. Before Shiro yelled at them in warning, the kunai in the sky suddenly dropped, as if the force underground pulled them stronger than the gravity. Unable to dodge, their skin made in contact with the sharp tips. All of them held it in, grunting painfully, determined to not give Kuro the satisfaction of making them cry. This took place in 2 seconds. Shiro frowned and watched the kunai fall and clatter around them after the impact. Kunai didn't normally hurt this much… _

_-_

_Naruto cursed colorfully as his insufferable blonde bangs plastered to his eyes again, blocking his sight. Not being able to tolerate it anymore, he fumbled for anything he could use to keep it up. Desperate for anything, he used the bandage wrapping on one of his kunai to tie it around his forehead. Naruto then grinned, satisfied with the result when the dripping hair failed to plaster to his eyes. Finishing his touch, the blonde haired jounin whirled around suddenly and plunged his bandage-less kunai into the surprised jounin's chest, who fell on the thick branch of the tree with a sickening gurgle and did not stand up again._

_A shuriken flew past him with a shrring, which Naruto dodged, but he yelped with surprise when an exploding tag just blasted him out of the tree he was standing on. He should've known what was coming with that jounin! Muttering couple more violent words under his breath, the blonde stood up, finding himself surrounded by at least 8 jounin. Naruto highly doubted that they were the only one they had at the scene; they knew what he was capable of. He felt more presence behind those nins, and scowled._

"_Great…" he grumbled to himself, "Just what I needed right now…"_

_With that the 8 jounin rushed at him, more shadows appearing on the trees nearby them._

_Naruto ducked under them elegantly, skidding to a halt behind them, and moved his hands to a very familiar hand seals of his favorite jutsu. He finished it with a cross shaped motion, and yelled at the top of his lung, "Kagebunshin no Jutsu!" With that, he replicated 8 of his own, and sent his clones out._

_-_

"_Mitsuki-chan!" Ichi called out worriedly as the girl staggered a little, panting, scratches covering her usually tomboyish features. The girl was strong, at least stronger than other average girls, but wasn't strong enough to keep up this fight as long as the other two boys did, especially with these injuries. Her body ached with intense usage, and her wounds throbbed with every single passing second, but she didn't complain. She didn't want to be a burden to her teammates, especially to Shiro when she was trying to gain his trust in her._

_Ichi was not in a good shape either, his clothes muddy and torn. This was the moment when he desperately wished that Hinata was not his mother so he could be born with a 'normal' and 'functional' byakugan. He regretted immediately after the thought. It wasn't his mother's fault that he ended up like this… But he had to do something, just something, so that he could protect his teammates, even that bastard Shiro. And he didn't know what. Ichi furiously searched through his brain, until their time was up and Kuro attacked them._

_Shiro cursed inwardly and winced as Kuro mingled himself within the rains again. That boy was a master at hiding in the rain, with his talented henge no jutsu, repressing his chakra so they couldn't detect him. Mitsuki was always better at detecting things than him, but he knew that due to her injuries and continuation of Kuro's attacks, she couldn't think straight and calmly at this current moment. Ichi was no good, since he never did, couldn't activate his byakugan. If only he could use Sharingan…!_

_Even if he didn't want to admit it, he didn't want to lose his teammates, who were rapidly becoming a big part of his life. He had to protect them. He just had to! He didn't want to see them die right before his eyes like a person he loved did in the past. He'd never admit it aloud, he never will, but he acknowledged his presence deep inside his mind._

_He needed it. He needed the Sharingan. As a sworn avenger, he always vowed that he'd destroy his…father and kill himself to finish off this tragic clan filled with deaths. He thought he'd ever wanted to activate the Sharingan. But he needed to protect his comrades, had to protect them. He needed the Sharingan. HE NEEDED IT!_

_A strange feeling overwhelmed his body after that thought. He couldn't explain it, but…it was weird. It was like being burned by fire and cooled down by ice at the same time._

_He felt calmer, at ease. Everything moved in a slow motion, including the rain. The rain fell drop by drop in slow motion, hitting his nose. His eyes swept the area, passing by Ichi bandaging Mitsuki – he for some reason felt a strange burning urge to wring the girl's neck at that moment – and back to the rain again, which was beginning to rain harder by the minute. _

'_Concentrate,' he told himself repeatedly, closing his eyes, erasing the image of Ichi wearing a worried expression bandaging Mitsuki that somehow broke his concentration for some reason, 'Concentrate. Calm yourself. He's going to come. Look for any sign. Concentrate, Uchiha. Stay calm. See through this illusion!' Just as he snapped his eyes open, the commas swirling around his crimson pupil, Kuro appeared out of nowhere slowly, made the hand seal, and was opened his mouth, as if ready to yell…_

_Shiro immediately reacted, his hands forming a series of familiar seals. Before the words came out of Kuro's mouth, Shiro yelled hastily, "Katon! Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" He inhaled deeply, and blew the enormous flame at Kuro. Kuro seemed to be surprised at his sudden attack, before Shiro's fire grazed his arm. His face scrunched up in pain as the fire left a blood red mark running up his arm, leaving a serious burn. The genin grunted, wincing at that burn, and disappeared into the rain again._

_Shiro panted rapidly, eyes widened as his brain registered the fact that he had injured Kuro. 'What the hell just happened? I… I actually saw his movement?'_

"_Shiro?" came the soft voice of the pale eyed Hyuuga. Shiro turned around and face Ichi, who was staring at him as if he grew another head. Mitsuki was staring at him as well with her typical impassive expression, even though her dark eyes were filled with surprise and slight admiration she always carried with her. Shiro frowned at the other boy, not understanding, before the younger boy spoke up again, awed and slightly hesitant._

"_Your eyes are red…"_

_-_

_Naruto cleanly finished off the last jounin of the area and took off again, his face splattered with blood and his usually clean uniform soaked with both rain and blood. They were not his blood, but the blood of the others. Naruto frowned sadly again. He could never imagine how many people in Rock Village just lost their friends or relatives._

_While Naruto had the skills to be an Anbu, he just didn't have the feelings an Anbu was supposed to have. Even when he was carrying out assassinations as an Anbu for six years before he became a jounin last year, he never liked taking one's life just like that, just with a flick of kunai across his or her throat, just because of a misunderstanding and ugly feelings only the humans possessed. That's why he decided to quit the Anbu. Not only did he regret taking others' lives, it took too much of his time when he was supposed to be doing something else, something that was more important what he was doing._

_Naruto just shook his head, chuckling out loud. What was he thinking, brooding like this? Geez, sometimes he acted too much like…_

…

_Erasing that last thought, which had come to his mind without even thinking, he focused on the chakra of his students and Kuro, and started heading toward that way as fast as he can. His expression brightened a little when he recognized that familiar but different wave of chakra coming from his certain student._

'_About time…!' he thought, grinning a little._

_-_

_Shiro felt a little confused, but he only questioned the feminine boy again passively, his eyebrows arched up, "Come again?"_

"_Your eyes, they're red," Ichi scooted closer, until his face was like right in front of Shiro's. Shiro, for some reason, felt his face heat up a bit, but decided that it was the heat getting to him after using his fire jutsu. There **were** warm steams still surrounding them as after effect of him using his fire jutsu in the rain, the air murkier than ever. "Now that I see it closely," the Hyuuga said distractedly, squinting his color shifting eyes at his eyes, "There is some kind of commas around your pupil. That's strange though. Your right eye only has two and the other has three. Neh, neh, isn't that strange, Mitsuki-chan?"_

_Mitsuki only sighed tiredly in her slumped position, her hand rubbing the bandage covered wounds in hopes of settling the aches down, "Ichi, Shiro-kun has the bloodline limit just like you do, if you never noticed. He's from the Uchiha clan, born between the most powerful Uchiha ever known and a strong Konoha kunoichi. As in for his Sharingan, it varies from people to people. An Uchiha could have 2 in both eyes, both 3, or 2 and 3, just like Shiro-kun's."_

_Shiro clenched his teeth at that, gritting it. That girl had no right to talk about his clan and family history like that…!_

"_A-Ah," the Hyuuga heir seemed troubled, for some reason, "I see… Right." His eyes turned a light shade of blue, and didn't change for a while before shifting over to purple._

_Shiro frowned at his actions, but didn't say anything. It was not his thing to stick his nose into other people's business. He had his ambition to accomplish, Ichi had his own dream he wanted to accomplish, and by mingling with him it'd deter him from killing that cursed father of his. And yet, he couldn't stop slight disappointment creeping in his heart. Forcing it to go away, Shiro glanced at their female companion. Mitsuki seemed to notice his behavior as well, staring at the feminine boy, the ever present impassive look on her face. She had that calculating, or observant expression, apparently trying to find an answer to Ichi's weird behavior._

_Dismissing her thoughts, Mitsuki spoke up, bringing up a different topic and away from Ichi's behavior for now, "Never mind that. We can't just stand still like this when that rock genin could attack us any time. We need to find a way to at least slow him down from getting his hand on Hina-san, hoping that she's at the village by the time we're killed, and buy just enough time for Naruto-sensei to arrive here so he could help us."_

_Despite the fact that Naruto was the goofiest adult he ever met, Shiro couldn't help but agreeing with her. Even if he was too perky and too childish for his age, their instructor was the strongest person they ever met, except the Hokage. He didn't want to admit aloud that he needed help from that all-too-cheerful jounin, but they seriously did need help._

"_I have a plan," Mitsuki continued, peering at them through her blonde eyelashes, "If you cooperate with me just a bit, it'll succeed. At least by then, Naruto-sensei would be here, even though I'm not sure about Hina-san's whereabouts. Will you trust me to pull you guys through this? Can I trust you to not run off on your own and participate in this plan?"_

_Mitsuki's father was a genius; it was a known fact in Konoha. Her mother wasn't such a bad kunoichi either. She came from a very good clan and was another jounin instructor. A combination of those two couldn't be bad on the battlefield, even though he couldn't guarantee on her personality. (Mitsuki's father was a lazy ass, and her mother had a temper problem, from what people from Konoha said.) It was her that pulled them through the survival practice Naruto-sensei put them through the day after they were assigned to him; they could trust her devising ability again._

_Both Shiro and Ichi nodded._

_-_

_Naruto bounced off the tree branch with the annoying wet sound of his sandal made, and anxious to reach his students in time. He knew that he could trust Shiro's ability, but at the same time, Shiro was inexperienced with his Sharingan, so there was also a chance that they would all get killed. Maybe he was a bit paranoid; after all, Mitsuki was there. How bad could it be? The girl was a genius, taken after Shikamaru! It can't be bad! Even if he never saw Ichi activate his byakugan, he was born between Neji and Hinata! And Neji was a genius!_

'_Still,' Naruto thought, deliberately moving so that his movements were unpredictable to his opponents, 'they're only genin. Shiro is inexperienced with his Sharingan. Mitsuki lacks experience to actually form a complete and effective plan. And Ichi…I've never seen him activate byakugan before… He's pretty skillful in jyuken and kaiten, thanks to Hanabi's trainings she gave him ever since he was little, but never activates byakugan for them.'_

_He halted for a brief moment, and listened and watched for any movements in his surroundings, blue eyes cautiously narrowing and his nose twitching. His back pressed against the rough surface of the damp tree, his lithe form hidden in the shadow and slight mist. A group of jounin passed by him soundlessly few seconds after he had taken the position, who obviously didn't spot him. Naruto held his breath and waited until their presence was gone from his senses._

'_That was close,' Naruto mentally told himself, feeling a presence deep within his mind growl low at him in agreement. He simply ignored the presence and tried to sense if there was another presence within his area. Finding none and quite relieved, he leaped over the trees and started heading directly toward where his genin team was._

_The cool air running through his hair added with slight sprinkle slightly relieved his stress, but failed to dissipate it completely._

_-_

"_Shit!" Ichi cursed loudly, something his aunt would smack him really hard for, desperately trying to dislodge his feet from beneath the earth, "Shit!" He never saw Kuro's attack coming, and now he was paying for it by waiting for his own death as earth, the gracious mother of all things, held him down from saving himself. _

_Where are Shiro and Mitsuki? He thought to himself with dread, looking around and trying to peer through the thick steams caused by Shiro's immense usage of fire jutsu. Damn bastard, had to be all cool and blast this place with fire. Che, he made things even worse than before. I hope he realizes that and regret it when the heir of Hyuuga clan dies. Ichi thought sulkily, planning to throttle the Uchiha the second he sees him. _

_He shifted uncomfortably again, wriggling his toes, only to find out that it was clamped down firmly by the wet and heavy soil above his feet. He winced and tried to ignore the wet feeling. Pale eyes tried to see through the mist again worriedly with a tint of panic, among the restless movements of the molecules. He knew that this was not part of the plan Mitsuki devised, but he knew that she had at least 10 more plans just in case something went wrong. So he tried to relax, even though the soil was trying suck out his strength from his foot. _

_Byakugan would be really helpful right now…! He growled mentally, grumbling to himself and not knowing that there was a shadow appearing behind him. The figure did a quick series of hand seals, and before Ichi felt the presence and turned around, kunai were heading toward him in an incredible speed._

"_ICHI!"_

_-_

_**Dokun…!** (Sound effect for heartbeat)_

_Naruto paused in his hurry and carefully looked around, tense, and his hand unconsciously, almost instinctively reaching for a kunai in his pouch. His blonde brows creased in thought as his tanned hand brushed against the top of the blue material, his usually blue eyes tinted with red studying the surroundings with caution. His hand deftly undid the zipper and slipped his hand in, the said hand curling around the cool metal just below the sharp blade._

'_What was that…?' he thought as his eyes constantly darted side to side as if anything could pop out and attack him. That short wave it diffused in the air, only weak amount gathered together enough for him to detect what it was momentarily. 'Chakra…?' He felt another wave coming and closed his eyes, and let it pass by him, which felt like a warm breeze. He knew that wave pattern, even though it seemed to be more complicated and different from the normal one he knew._

"_Byakugan," he whispered aloud, eyes widening with realization. "Did Ichi…?"_

_-_

_Mitsuki watched, surprised and horrified, as the sharp blades rushed toward the clueless boy. "ICHI!"_

_The feminine boy swung around, his long black hair in the air, and his pale eyes widened, and Mitsuki almost saw the reflections of the kunai on his clear eyes as it got closer and closer to him… _

_This was a miscalculation! Mitsuki cursed mentally, beating herself down. I should've played go and shougi with tou-san when I had the chance! Shit, if I just didn't help kaa-san with her flowers at that time! She quickly did a series of familiar hand seals, her right hand curling around and on top of her left. She muttered the jutsu underneath her breath, and her shadow shot out quickly, toward the rock genin who was currently preoccupied with Ichi._

_Come on…! She thought desperately, her dark eyes narrowing with intense concentration as her shadow neared her opponent's. Come on…!_

_Just as a kunai grazed by Ichi's cheek, a figure appeared out of nowhere and pushed the boy out of the way roughly just in time. Ichi hit the ground and slid across the wet soil, grunting painfully. The sound of kunai rushing by with metallic swishes rang in the air and just as Mitsuki's shadow caught the rock nin's, the deed was already done. The figure twitched on the spot, blood dripping onto the soft soils underneath the sandal clad feet._

_Shiro coughed out blood just as Ichi sat up shakily, his shoulders shuddering and the blood seeping through his wounds, staining the dark blue material of his clothing crimson. Heavy scent of blood spread out through the air, assaulting their senses. Half lidded crimson eyes slowly faded back to black, and the Uchiha fell backwards, only to be caught unexpectedly by the Hyuuga._

_Not caring about the blood seeping through his white jacket, the Hyuuga clutched at the dark blue clothing, fisting the material, "Why did you do that?" he asked shakily, tears quickly pooling at the corners of his color shifting eyes. Shiro, with drowsy and numb amusement, noted that the color was blue, purple lurking around the pupil. "Why the hell did you do that, you bastard?" Ichi yelled this time, tears falling on the bloody but pale face of other's. "Just – Just – Shit…" he wiped at his tears hastily. "I didn't need any help… Why the hell…"_

"_I don't know," the other boy rasped, his dark eyes glazing over with something that was akin to drowsiness, "I don't know what made me jump in front of you…moron." He coughed again, this time weakly, and the blood ran down his chin slowly. "I always vowed to myself that no matter what, I won't activate Sharingan and destroy this cursed bloodline someday, even if it cost my life…" he murmured absently, glazed eyes staring at nothing in particular even though they were directed toward Ichi, "I broke both of the vows today. Che… I told, forced myself to detach myself from others, so that I won't be deterred from my ambition. Now look at me. The cursed Sharingan is activated because I wanted to protect my teammates, and…" the dark haired boy swallowed, "And I…can't kill that man anymore. My father…"_

_Ichi's hand fiercely twisted the bloody material, his tears falling down and not noticing it. "You should've…" he said, his body quivering with an emotion he was not used to, "You should've just left me like that… Bastard…" His other hand kept on going back to his eyes, wiping furiously at the wet liquid trickling down his face at a steady speed. "Bastard… Always trying to be the hero at the end…"_

_The Uchiha let out a breathy, short laugh, before coughing again, his blood splattering on his pale hand he instinctively drew to his mouth. "Moron…" the quiet, fading voice of Uchiha rang in his ear afterwards, even though the said boy was merely whispering it, "Don't you…dare…die…"_

_The body went limp._

_And Ichi's world turned white._

_-_

_Mitsuki watched mesmerized as Ichi shakily stood up, white chakra visible as it rolled off his figure uncontrollably. She held the Kagemane no Jutsu, just in case something went wrong, but she was able to feel the chakra quickly draining with the intense usage. She never used this jutsu for this long…_

_When Ichi straightened up, eyes staring ahead at the Rock genin, Mitsuki gasped with astonishment. 'His eyes…!' she thought, her dark eyes widening, 'It's white…! Just like his father's…!' Yet something was different about them. She couldn't put her finger on it, but…it seemed a little stronger, no far stronger, than Hyuuga-san's…_

_The heir of the Hyuuga clan fixed his gaze on Kuro, his glare unmoving and chakra quickly flaring up even more than before. The Rock genin flinched audibly, unable to look away from the eye contact. He swallowed nervously, sweat trickling down his face as Hyuuga only stared at him, blank pearly eyes focused on him, only him, with the veins surrounding his eyes popping out. Even the normal Konoha citizens were intimidated by their gaze, so it wasn't surprising that Kuro froze just with one look at Ichi's eyes._

_There was a silence. A short silence that seemed to be longer than it was supposed to be._

_A wave of warm air swept by the surroundings in front of Ichi and then Kuro slumped in his position, not falling due to Mitsuki's Kagemane no Jutsu._

_As the Rock genin was falling, the numerous amount of kunai on the ground, the wounds on Shiro's pale face, and the splattered blood faded away, leaving no trace of their previous existence, like magic, a well displayed mirage. Mitsuki let go of her jutsu, and let the enemy fall, her mouth wide open and her mind not registering what the hell just happened with a blink of an eye._

'_Genjutsu,' Mitsuki thought calmly after her moment of surprise, 'He used a strong genjutsu to fool all of us. To make us believe that all the pain and kunai were real… Rather smart, I'd say… Impact on nerves to control what we're feeling… But…' she paused, biting down on her lips, 'Ichi… Just what did he do? Never in my life did I see or hear or read about a byakugan that could break illusion… Maybe applied in a process to break them, but never break it like that independently…' She was wandering off to her thought realm before another movement caught her eyes._

_Ichi fell silently, his eyes shifting to red from its pearly whiteness before closing gently, landing on top of the Uchiha prodigy he held just a moment ago. He was unconscious, judging by the way he didn't react when he fell rather roughly on top of the Uchiha. Folding away her thought for now, Mitsuki cautiously walked over and knelt down by Kuro's body, reaching out a hand to rest it against his throat. Weak, but steady heartbeats thudded against her fingertips, and she withdrew, biting her lips, as she mentally decided on what she'd do with him._

_**Tak tak tak tak tak tak.**_

_She tensed, her hand automatically reaching for her kunai, before a familiar figure appeared out of the tree diagonal from her. She relaxed when a certain blond haired teacher came into her vision, her hand falling to her side._

_He seemed to have come a very long way… His damp face and uniform was splattered with blood, his hair was drooping because of the rain – rather cute, really – and his sandal and pants were muddy. His blonde hair was held up with a strip of bandage, probably to keep it out of his vision. His eyes were clouded with worry as he strode over to her, his lips thinning as he took in the steamy surrounding, the fallen figure of her teammates, and Kuro by her feet._

"_Are they okay?" he only asked rather calmly, his usually mischievousness gone and replaced with worry and seriousness, "What happened?"_

"_It's very long, really," she only sighed, the weariness catching up to her now that it was over, "Rather very troublesome, but I'll tell you on the way. Our first priority is to take those two, find Hina-san, and go to Amegakure as soon as possible."_

_Her blonde teacher only studied her for a minute with those penetrating blue eyes of his before he nodded curtly, "Right." And then he proceeded to haul the boys onto his back. Before they left though, he grabbed a kunai and threw it at the unconscious shinobi at the back, and Mitsuki felt sick as she heard the loud thunk, the sound of the blade forcefully making its away into the flesh, and a last gasp of her, their, enemy._

_-_

_They had found Hina-san hiding nearby, the box held protectively to her chest and her shivering. She was a mess, her hair slipping out of her elegant hairclip, and she almost cried when they found her. Though when she saw the state of two boys, biting her lips as her gladness dissipated, she demanded that they should go back to Amegakure immediately to treat those two._

_The trip was short, but bought Mitsuki enough time to explain what happened when they fought with Kuro. Naruto listened to her gravely, unmoving as his eyes clouded with emotions she was able to comprehend. Even though he mostly kept the thoughtful look. She caught that flash of pain when she mentioned about Shiro jumping in front of Ichi. Mitsuki was curious as to why he had that painful look in his eyes, but decided to not push it. Maybe…it reminded him of something that happened before?_

**OXOXOXOXO**

It took them quite a while to recover from their wounds, especially Ichi. Shiro woke up two days after their arrival at Amegakure. But Ichi… When they arrived at Amegakure to check him up, all of them were shocked to find out that any chakra wasn't detected in Ichi's body. The boy was alive though, breathing and functioning normally for some reason. He woke up a day after Shiro, plenty of chakra flowing through his veins and perky as usual. Feeling confused, the blonde left Amegakure with his team.

When they returned home, Naruto immediately visited Sakura at the Hokage building, to ask her about some things he found out during the mission. Since she was the head of the medical nin counsel, he knew that she'd know about anything that was physically unusual in Konohagakure.

"Oh, hey!" Sakura blinked at him surprised when he opened the door and smiled sheepishly at her, "You're back from your mission! How was it? It took you guys a while to come back, but… Oh, just take a seat! I'll go get some tea!" Sakura gestured to the chair in front of her desk before rushing off when Naruto tried to comment. Naruto scratched his head and sat on the green chair in front of her clean white desk. Well, that was Sakura for you, blunt and caring…though most of these traits were rubbed off on her by a certain blonde Hokage.

Sakura came in with two steaming mugs and hurriedly took her seat just a while later, setting lemon tea in front of Naruto and sipping the green tea herself. "So," she began immediately, even bordering on being blunt, "I know that when you decide to visit me during my work hours, you always want to know something, or emergency situation. What's bothering you?"

Naruto was slightly stunned for few moments at her bluntness, which he should be used to now, and meekly reached for his lemon tea. After he calmed down a little with the tea, he began slowly. "Well, as you know, we were on a C-ranked mission, escorting this one noble lady to the Hidden Village of Rain. We ran into some troubles, like chuunin and jounin ambush, which is definitely not fitting as a C-ranked mission. I finished them off easily, but my students weren't as lucky as I was, even though they were only fighting a genin," Naruto paused thoughtfully, sipping on his sour but sweet tea, "One of my students – Shikamaru's daughter, actually – reported the fight and I found out something unusual. Sakura-chan, what do you know about Hyuuga Ichi's byakugan?"

The pink haired girl seemed to falter in her action momentarily, but she continued coolly, drinking her own green tea, "What about it?"

"From what I know so far, from Mitsuki's – Shikamaru's daughter – and my observations," Naruto said hesitantly, "Ichi never activated byakugan before, not even during our trainings, missions, or academy sessions. And what's really peculiar is that his eye color keeps on changing almost restlessly." Naruto continued, "I've noticed that after he passed out from using his byakugan to break through a strong genjutsu, as told by Mitsuki, his chakra was like…gone or something. I couldn't feel it. If I didn't check for his pulse and breathing, then I would've thought that he was dead. I know byakugan's ability through the time I spent with Neji and Hinata, and byakugan never breaks genjutsu. It could be used in a process to figure out a way to break genjutsu, but it never breaks it by itself. So that's why I came to you, since I know that either you or Tsunade no baa-chan would know something about it. Sakura-chan, what's going on?"

Sakura hesitated momentarily, and then thought about it, as if considering an important decision. She stared at the tranquil surface of her steaming tea for a while, until she straightened and leaned forward, lowering her voice until it was just bordering on whisper. "I could tell you about it, but…" she gave him a serious look, "…you'll have to promise me that you won't tell anyone. It's a secret between Hyuuga clan, Tsunade-sama, Shizune-san, and me."

"I promise," he told her solemnly, "And I always keep my words. You know that, Sakura-chan."

Sakura smiled at him lightly, relaxing visibly. Then she pondered for a moment, fingering her left ring finger, which was decorated with a simple golden band. That gesture usually meant that she was nervous. She seemed to always wanting to recall her wedding with Lee by rubbing her ring finger to assure herself, for that was one of the few exhilarating that happened to her over the years.

"Alright," she said, after a long pause, "You already know that Ichi-kun is a son born between Neji-kun and Hinata-chan, right?"

Naruto nodded eagerly, encouraging her to continue.

"Hyuuga clan never, never ever allows any kind of relationship between relatives, especially those between a member of main family and other from the branch family, because it's forbidden, like most people's beliefs about 'incest,'" Sakura explained, "We know for a fact that byakugan is a dominant gene, which is at least 25 stronger than normal dominant genes. So since marriage among relatives is not allowed, they marry other 'normal' people. So the gene of a Hyuuga automatically becomes Bb, no matter what. Rarely, Hyuuga clan produces one without byakugan, and that was like…a century ago.

"But this time, put Neji-kun and Hinata-chan together. They both are from Hyuuga clan, one from main family and the other from branch family, and both have dominant gene of a Hyuuga. So what will happen? Normally, 25 possibility is that their offspring would have the gene BB, 50 Bb, and 25 bb, attained from what we know about genetics so far. But then again, byakugan gene is really, really dominant, dominant than any other normal dominant genes, and we all know that. So automatically, their offspring, Ichi-kun, obtained the Hyuuga gene of BB.

"Now, that's not normal for a Hyuuga, because for centuries they only produced Bb, some rare bb on the way, and now they have to deal with BB one, which they don't know much about. Naruto, do you follow me so far?" Sakura asked, and Naruto nodded, organizing the information in his head. Sakura sipped her tea a bit and continued. "Anyway, Ichi-kun now has a new…type of byakugan, though the Hyuuga clan prefers to call it as mutation. Uh…how should I put this to words…? Hmm… I could say that that byakugan got stronger, in theory. We don't know what could happen when it's activated, because Hinata-chan told me that Ichi-kun hasn't activated it yet. From what we know so far, because that particular byakugan could be stronger than the normal ones, it would naturally require a lot of chakra. But even Hyuuga clan, the excellent bloodline, doesn't have that much chakra to handle it when they're born.

"Normally, both Uchiha and Hyuuga clan's bloodline 'eye' ability is made so that it could be activated when chakra flows to their eyes. There are always plenty around that area so that the owner could activate it any time he wants. The thing with Ichi-kun's byakugan is that he doesn't have enough chakra overall to activate it. So rather than draining his chakra out to reserve it for byakugan, it cut off the chakra around the eye area, thus disabling Ichi-kun from activating it. As in for shifting colors, we're guessing it's because of the unstable chakra around that area since chakra always circulate throughout the body to keep the balance.

Sakura took a deep breath and continued, "From what you're telling me from your mission, Naruto, I think that his emotional distress with Shiro-kun's fall triggered his chakra deep within his mind along with his normal one, which were enough to activate his byakugan. After using it though, it might've drained his chakra completely with only undetectable amount left, just enough so that Ichi-kun could survive. Barely. He probably rested for 3 days to build his chakra back up again."

Sakura sighed after her long explanation about Ichi's byakugan, and gulped down her green tea, which was starting to cool down a little. Naruto only looked thoughtful, absorbing that information slowly and organizing them in his mind. He felt a stirring deep in his mind and a growl, but he ignored it completely; he knew that many thoughts intruding his mind all at the same time upset his 'soul companion' as it did to his head. Naruto was clever, but he didn't like thinking too deeply; that was Shikamaru's job.

"What…" Naruto was surprised when his voice came out husky and coughed, "What can I do to enable Ichi from activating his byakugan normally like other Hyuuga? Activating byakugan seems like the only obstacle for him."

Sakura sighed, "I don't know, Naruto. I seriously don't know." She was silent, thinking for a moment, before she brightened slightly and turned to him. "Maybe… Teaching him chakra control might help him," she suggested with a warm smile, "That's the only thing I could think about right now but…I'll tell you if I get more ideas, okay?"

Naruto smiled back at her and stood up from the green chair. He stretched, satisfied afterwards, feeling much better. He agreed when Sakura asked him to come over for dinner at her house and was about to leave, the door knob in his hand, ready to be turned, when she stopped him suddenly. "Naruto."

He looked back, and saw her solemn green eyes meeting his own. She frowned slightly, sadly, and murmured to him. "One of our ANBU came back injured from the Otogakure just yesterday. It was a squad consisting of 4 elite members, and three were annihilated. That anbu said that there was something going on in Otogakure, as if they were planning something big. Naruto…" Sakura's usually stern green eyes wavered, tearing, "I don't like the way it's going. And these days…it's like the history is repeating itself. If you noticed, things that happened when we were genin are happening these days in similar fashion…" there was a pause, and Sakura breathed in deeply, her voice quivering when she spoke the next statement, "Do…Do you think…_he_ is involved in it?"

Naruto froze, his hand unconsciously tightening around the door knob. Several emotions like rage, pain, and wistfulness crossed his face in a jumble, leaving the blonde weary. Naruto sighed, feeling his stomach twist with an emotion he was familiar to. "I don't know, Sakura-chan…" he only said, "I honestly don't know…"

After he closed the door behind him, he heard the pink haired woman start to sob, stifled. Naruto squeezed his eyes shut, feeling them water and unconsciously put gripped his pendant tightly, as if seeking assurance from it. He knew that Sakura changed in many ways after what happened 16 years ago. She grew sterner, more like the Godaime, and stronger than she was back then. For 16 years she tried to not be a burden to him, to Kakashi-sensei and to the people around her, keeping in her feelings and making a mask of her own, except that it was a mask of a stern woman instead of a flirty girl she used to make up long time ago.

Naruto wondered painfully, listening to Sakura cry. _How much did I change ever since that incident 16 years ago?_

**To be continued…**

**OXOXOXOXO**

**Author's Notes:  
**This took a very long time to write. Yes it did…  
I was supposed to work on "Jounin to Jounin," but plot bunnies attacked and I just had to write this. Part two will come out later. Definitely after I update "Jounin to Jounin" and another one I have in mind right now… (grins evilly)  
This thing was much longer than I usually write… In fact, it was supposed to be a one-shot like everything else in this Tea and Ramen Series, but it got too long and I had to divide it in half…  
And I know all those DNA things are crap. But what can I say? I can't remember anything from bio last year...  
Errgh. I'm so unoriginal. This story is crappp. It's making me feel depressed...(runs off to sulk)

Eudoxus: Err…yeah, maybe it's not too extreme to be rated M… We all love spying on Sasuke and Naruto. :) Indeed, yaoi is a weird obsession… stares into air After discovering yaoi in FMA, I started noticing all the gay-ness in other series I never thought yaoi was possible. Is it just me?  
Letta: Thanks! It was meant to be evil… :) (what?)  
Hujin: My friends call me a psycho for liking yaoi… sigh I wish I had a friend who I could rant about yaoi to all day…  
QianYun: You're my heroine! glomp I love your all of your fics! They're ingenious! X3 I'm glad that you liked it! I feel so…blessed… Thank you for the comments!


	5. Jounin to Jounin

**Drabble #4. Jounin to Jounin**

**_Subject: The POV of Outsiders, Both Sasuke Fan Girls and Yaoi Fan Girls_**

**OXOXOXOXO**

It was another beautiful day in Konoha, customers coming in and out of the store, the sun shining brightly, and the sky clear. Plus, the sale was good. Setsuno Aya nodded in approval to herself as she took in the clean counter proudly. The last shift, whom she hated passionately even if she never met her, left the counter dirty and messy, and Aya had been infuriated when she found it like that. Her perfect counter! It's been ruined!

Saying a friendly 'hello' to Miyaka-san, who came here at least 3 times a week to shop, and continued to do her work, standing at the counter, waiting for a customer. As soon as Shizuka comes, she'd be able to patrol the market as usual. Instead of standing at the counter, she liked to stroll around the market, for any sign of discomfort or violence. The sight of bickering mother and children ever snacks they shouldn't eat always warmed her heart. Also, she liked to see a happy couple shopping with entwined hands, even though she was a bit jealous of them since she was still single. But nonetheless, they never failed to brighten her mood!

"Hey Aya," Shizuka, who was a bright young kunoichi, called her, putting on her blue apron with 'he no he no mo he ji' symbol drawn on it. "I'll watch the counter now. Have fun patrolling!" She winked at her, putting her green hair up into a bun. Waving a thank you to her gracious friend, Aya immediately set out, starting from the vegetable section.

She gave a warm smile to a little girl who shyly waved at her beside her mother, who was looking at the squashes in front of her with a thoughtful look on her face, Isle by isle, Aya passed by a lot of families, couples, and singles. Even though the salary was just barely enough for her to survive, she loved her job. Everything about this store made her happy…except for the girl who keeps on messing up her counter…

She was just passing by the Instant section when she caught the sound of loud bickering around the ramen area. She perked up immediately, ready for any trouble, and strained her ears toward the direction the sounds were coming from. Curious when the sounds came again, Aya crept over there, as quiet as she can.

"I want ramen!" a blonde young man around her age wearing the Konoha jounin uniform crossed his arms in a stubborn gesture, looking determined, "I say we eat ramen, we buy ramen, and that's _final_!" His blue eyes flickered over to his companion in silent challenge, narrowed with annoyance. There was some kind of bandana with a metal plate on it around his neck, tied loosely and tucked underneath the collar of his green vest. And was that whiskers on his cheek…?

Aya blinked, recognizing the guy. She knew him, not personally but from the way people talked about him. She also met him couple of times when he went on his ramen shopping. It was hard to forget him, for she remembered being shocked at the amount of ramen piled up on her counter, and him grinning at her, dropping the money on her hand. His name was…yeah, it was Uzumaki Naruto. One of the candidates for the title of the strongest shinobi in town. He was also famous for the pranks he pulled long time ago during his younger days, his ramen obsession, and the fact that he brought back the Konoha's beloved prodigy, Uchiha Sasuke, the most eligible bachelor in town…

Aya blushed at the thought. She only passed by the Uchiha just once and fell hopelessly in love with him. And that was like 2 years ago… Immediately after her encounter with him, she joined the fan club, and became the Sasuke Lover, Number 1067908. She had been so happy that day, because she received the 'I love Sasuke' key chains. It was wonderful. She was now able to look at the key chains and sigh in joy.

So who was Uzumaki bickering with? Who was immature enough to actually argue back to him?

"Usuratonkachi," Aya gasped at the voice, almost melting into a pile of goo at that. She recognized that voice anywhere! It was the voice of Uchiha Sasuke! She threw the thought of 'immature' out the window immediately. Everything was mature and beautiful when it came to him. Not believing her luck, and can't waiting till she told her friends and the club members, she walked over, hoping that he'd notice her. "Unlike you, there are normal people who need to consume nutrients by eating something else other than ramen." He raised an eyebrow at the blonde as he said it, his dark eyes fixed on him, only him.

Halting her stalker-like creeping in the middle of the isle, Aya frowned, suddenly struck with a thought as she continued to watch the two bicker again. Why was Uchiha Sasuke, _the most wanted bachelor in Konoha_, bickering about _food, of all topics, _with _Uzumaki Naruto_? Not that she hated the boy or anything, but he just wasn't the type of a person you'd find hanging out with a guy like Uchiha Sasuke. He was cute, she had to admit, yes, but babyish cute, and cute in an 'aww your brother is so cute' way. Or a guy friend material. Either way…

"Mou-!" the blonde one whined, dragging the end of his word with a sense of childishness, "You just don't understand the great taste and aroma of ramen!" he tsked at his friend, shaking his head, "Shame on you, you bastard. Shame on you."

"Geez, I always wonder," Aya heard the Uchiha mutter dryly, who crossed his arms across his jounin uniform in irritation. She strained to catch every single syllable spoken by the Uchiha like a woman taking in all the gossips, unconsciously leaning forward and not noticing it. "Do you like your ramen even more than your boyfriend?" the Uchiha questioned, blankly staring at the other jounin who froze with a bowl of instant miso ramen in his hand.

A brief, short silence that told everything, complete with the shifty eyes from the blonde.

A weight in her stomach she wasn't accustomed to.

_Did he say 'boyfriend'?_

"…I still say we buy ramen," the blonde jounin muttered hastily, shoving the instant ramen inside his shopping basket.

Even from that distance, Aya saw the brunet twitch violently, his aura radiating, just screaming rage and jealousy. The Uchiha prodigy glared daggers at the blonde, dark eyes narrowed with burning annoyance. If looks could kill, the blonde would've died on the spot long ago. _What's going on? What was that?_ The poor girl thought frantically, trying to deny how her brain was translating the situation. _Don't tell me… Don't tell me that they're…_

"Sasuke…?" the blonde muttered hesitantly, apprehensively and cautiously peeking at the brunet's face which was covered by his long bangs, "Oi, Sasuke, you're not mad, are you? It was… I mean… I didn't mean it that way…" he said nervously, fiddling with his thumb while trying to coax the jealous and enraged shinobi, "Oi, Sasuke, what's wrong with y-_mmpphggg_!"

Aya gasped with horrid realization as the dark haired jounin pounced on the other one, slamming him against the wall and their lips connected, furiously kissing each other. Well…more like Uchiha molesting Uzumaki, but Uzumaki fighting back, pulling at other's bottom lip with his teeth. Some instant ramen cluttered and fell down, but they took no notice of them. A pale hand rested beside the blonde's head, palm flat against the wall, and the other disappeared under the black shirt beneath the green jounin vest.

Maybe their timing was right or something. Nobody passed by the isle, strangely. Nobody spotted the two making out except her.

After a while of mindlessly making out, the brunet withdrew, smirking at the flushed blonde. He leaned down, and purred, well, judging by that seductive expression, it must've been purred, something into the blonde's ear, which she didn't catch due to their distance. Also, she didn't want to know what was said to the blonde… The blonde nodded absently, flushing a bit more, his blue eyes glazed over with an emotion Aya didn't want to comprehend.

Then the black haired jounin pulled the blonde along, muttering something that suspiciously sounded like, "Come on. We have an unfinished business." And the Uzumaki, with an expression that indicated that his head was still somewhere up there in cloud 9, nodded again, clutching at his basket, which was filled with rice, vegetables, and couple fruits, and some meat. Maybe it was her shocked mind playing tricks on her, but Aya thought that she saw the Uchiha smirk at her when they were passing by her to the other end of the isle. Soon, they turned the corner and disappeared out of her sight.

Aya watched dumbly, stupefied, before she staggered toward her counter with her shaky legs, her usually healthy skin deathly pale, and her face blank. Her head was filled with what she witnessed a moment ago, replaying over and over. She had to tell this to Shizuka, share this horrible news that Konoha's most eligible bachelor Uchiha Sasuke was taken by none other than Uzumaki Naruto, and cry together, handing each other tissues from the tissue box. She was sure that Shizuka was a Sasuke Lover, for she spotted a picture of him in her bag.

Shizuka was at the empty counter, her golden eyes staring at the two who were at the other counter. Her eyes burned with jealousy as Fuuku, the occupant of the other ex-available counter, smiled at them. Aya silently took a seat beside the jealous counter occupant and tried to calm her breaths, clear her mind from the things she saw just a moment ago.

"Shizuka," she quietly started, her black hair curtaining around her face, "I saw Sasuke-san and Uzumaki just making out in the middle of the isle."

Shizuka turned to her, eyes widened with surprise and soundlessly watching her pale friend. She opened her mouth a while after, and squealed out, "Really? In the middle of the isle? Tell me everything, Aya! Everything!" her eyes sparkled inhumanly at the distressed girl, who gaped at her in stupefied astonishment, "This will be the topic of all _Konoha Yaoi Fan Girls_ for days! Just wait till President Hinata hears about this! Just wait till Vice President Sakura and Ino hears about this! Yes! I'll probably have enough points to get my own 'I love yaoi' bag with their pictures on it!"

"Thank you very much. Please come again." Fuuku's shy voice reached her ears, and broke her out of her stupor. Aya turned and found out that Shizuka's attention was yet again on the blonde girl working behind the other counter, chewing on her lower lips thoughtfully as she tapped her chin with her index finger.

"My pleasure," the Uchiha smirked, for he never smiled, and dragged the now-conscious-and-willing-to-go blonde with him, disappearing out the door. Aya didn't fail to notice the pale hand of Uchiha's holding the blonde's tanned one, and she shuddered inwardly. Her man of dreams…gay…with his best friend, nonetheless…who was a guy… She almost felt her dreams shatter literally, but repressed it and watched Shizuka make her way toward Fuuku.

"Say, Fuuku," Shizuka smiled at the girl, "You have the camera?"

The innocent looking blonde girl beamed proudly and took out the camera from her 'he no he no mo he ji' apron's pocket, dangling it in front of Shizuka with a sense of accomplishment. The green haired girl squealed and jumped up and down with Fuuku, shrieking something about getting points and finally earning their bags…

And Aya fainted.

**OXOXOXOXO**

**Author's Notes:**

Meh. This was rather rushed…  
Writing about Outsider Yaoi Fan Girls and Mary-Sue-like character was really weird… I don't think I'll do that ever again...  
But it was necessary, I guess... I just wanted to write about how girls thought about them when they became a couple... Hmm...  
It was rather fun writing the part when Naruto bickered with Sasuke over ramen, though. ;D


	6. Sound to Leaf :: Part II

"Nah, nah, Naruto-sensei?" Ichi trotted after him eagerly, his big, shifty multicolored eyes just…sparkling almost disturbingly, "What are we doing today? Are we going on an A-rank mission? Maybe escorting a princess across the dangerous field while jounin from other villages try to hunt us down? Or, or, are we going to learn an awesome, forbidden jutsu?" Naruto almost raised his hand to rub at his aching temple, but decided not to due to his aching arm. Kiba took him to a bar along with several other people like Neji to have a drink last night after his return. Ow. Hangover. The _parasite_ in his body thought it was too amusing to see him suffer, and didn't heal him from it. Damned fox.

"Nope," Naruto answered cheerfully with his hoarse voice while continuing to walk to their destination, which had been like that ever since he sang his throat out last night when he was drunk. He felt his students, excluding the eager one trotting after him, cringe at his voice, and decided to use it more to torture them. "It's just a regular D-rank mission. Aren't we all happy?" He felt Ichi deflate, and cackled evilly inside. It was just too funny! Was this the reason why Kakashi-sensei always teased him? ...Not that he was accepting the fact that his student was anything like his younger self, of course.

A sigh from the Nara girl. "How troublesome," she murmured not so quietly, falling behind the group as usual. It wasn't that she lacked the stamina; it just was because of her laziness. She just didn't find power-walking a good way to spend her energy; in fact, she didn't even like using her energy! "I should've ditched when I had the chance." Another sigh. "If it wasn't for my mom nagging at me, that is…" Ouch. Ino was a nice girl, but when she threw a tantrum, or when she was nagging you…you'd want to get away from her as far as possible. He almost felt sorry for Shikamaru, who had to deal with it everyday. Almost, because it was just too funny to pass. It was a daily routine to make fun of his friend, which annoyed the hell out of Shikamaru.

"But," Naruto continued, raising his hoarse voice at a level that caused another strong ripple of cringe from his students, this time Ichi included. He would've giggled in giddiness, but his masculine side resisted, so he grinned evilly instead, rubbing his fingertips together. "This time, it's very special. We're going to train while doing the mission." As he said this, they entered a door to the gargantuan building. It was gloomy inside, and also grimy, so they couldn't see anything. Naruto flickered on the lights.

His three students immediately recoiled as blinding rays of lights hit them. As they got used to the white lights, they blinked and looked around confusedly. Taking in the wooden floors, the steel bars just below the source of their blindness, they rubbed at their eyes, gaping at the size of what they had to clean.

"Mirrors?" Mitsuki questioned, turning her head to her instructor. "We have to clean those mirrors? Those massive mirrors that'd take us days to clean? Are you…are you _daft_?" Her voice left the typical Shikamaru-ish drawl to the Ino-ish screeching, her voice going sharp. He saw Shiro flinching at the echoing sound of her shrieking, and grinned amusedly.

"Yep, _those _mirrors," Naruto beamed. "Your mission is to clean those mirrors of this dance studio. To make the cleaning possible without using any other unnecessary tools except for Windex and a mop – and also to make it a bit easier – I'll have you guys climb the mirrors so you could clean them, unless you midgets think you could reach the top from here. Care for a demonstration?"

**OXOXOXOXO**

**Sound to Leaf: Part II**

**Warning:** Spoilers, light shounen-ai.

**OXOXOXOXO**

"Neh, Naruto-sensei," a high-pitched, but still a boy's voice, cut through his mind like a knife. Naruto looked up from cup ramen, from his thoughts, only to find his preppy student staring at him with intense curiosity as usual. Ichi was a curious student, always questioning 'why' to everything they came across. Like…'Why do we have to do this? Why is Shiro such a bastard? Why are we doing this mission? Why are you always bored, Naruto-sensei?' "I've always wanted to ask you ever since I noticed it. Why don't you ever wear your forehead protector?" Ichi asked, blinking. At the corner of his eyes, he saw Mitsuki offering her tempura to the Uchiha rather unenthusiastically due to her father's dominant genes, but her dark eyes were filled with disturbing adulation, which just killed the cool image. But despite her smothering attention, Shiro was staring right at Ichi for some unknown reason.

Naruto raised his hand to his forehead almost instinctively, his fingers coming in contact with his blonde bangs and the skin of his forehead, which were unguarded. Naruto grinned at his student, sticking his tongue out at Ichi, even if he knew that it was an immature thing to do, stooping low as his student's maturity level. "It's none of your business," he simply said, keeping that grin on his face.

Ichi visibly deflated, pouting at him with disappointment, "But senseeeeiiiii!" he whined, trying to coax his teacher into telling him. Apparently, he was really curious, if he was willing to bother Naruto when he was eating cup ramen. Naruto was ominous when he was interrupted in the middle of appreciating all the goodness of ramen, and his students learned it the hard way. (Ichi almost got a shuriken between his eyes, Mitsuki almost got her face burnt off, and Shiro almost lost his fingers the other time. Yeah, they got it, alright.) He was mellow today because he was thinking about depressing stuff before Ichi interrupted him from another of his brooding sessions. Also, Naruto was too distracted with the question to throw Ichi an attitude, even though he acted like he wasn't preoccupied, grinning all the while.

Of course there was a reason why Naruto didn't wear his headband…

After a short pause, Naruto opened his mouth, but closed it. He didn't know what to say, how to put it into words. It was such a simple thing, yet complicated for other people to understand. It was very…_him_ to say or do something people couldn't comprehend, and this was a part of it. Even the old hag didn't understand him on that. She was trying to convince him to wear the Konoha forehead protector since he refused to do it back then. She finally gave up on that matter after a week of arguing with the 'insufferable brat,' as she called him, and let him be without it, since all of the Konoha shinobi knew him already. It wasn't like he'd be noticed as some missing nin in his own hometown, so she didn't care in the end.

Shaking his head, Naruto only said, "Never mind, just go back to training."

His students, exception to the Uchiha of course, groaned and glared at the mirrors in disdain. Mitsuki's hands twitched, as if wanting to hurl her mop at it, but didn't do anything. It looked like as if she was too lazy to actually get up and bend down to grab that mop. Shiro impassively looked at the mirrors, even though his eyes were burning with distaste.

Naruto had noticed that they were doing far much better than how his genin team was long time ago, despite the freaky similarities. (They didn't break the mirror yet – gasp!) Shiro was just naturally good at controlling chakra being the Uchiha genius he was (or maybe he was taught by somebody good, which is possible), Ino and Shikamaru did a good job training their daughter, and Hanabi actually taught Ichi well. (Maybe the _only_ thing they were good at was chakra control.)

Not wanting to be brushed off and ignored, Ichi tackled the subject again, his stubbornness kicking in. (Where did he get all those genes? They were certainly not from Neji _or_ Hinata… No, both were stubborn, but not in a loud way like their son. Maybe Hanabi's traits rubbed off on him when she was training him.) "Sensei, sensei," Ichi kept on whining despite his order, "I really want to know! You only wore it once, and that was when we first met you! Why don't you ever wear your circlet? Is there like a secret behind it? Or did you lose it? Come on! I want to know! Please?"

Naruto sighed. He gave up. He now really knew how Kakashi-sensei felt when he himself asked him questions like that in the past. He almost felt sorry for his teacher, almost because that'd mean that he was admitting the fact that he was annoying before…again. (He still was in denial.) "It's…complicated," he only said, watching as Ichi scooted forward, big eyes intently watching him, "It has to do my current goal. It is to…" he swallowed, something thick in his throat when he actually said something that was related to his past out loud, "…It is to bring a precious person back to Konoha."

Ichi cocked his head to the side, "What does that have anything to do with your hitaiate?"

"…" He thought for a moment, silent. "Back then, I thought that hitaiate was a symbol of equality among shinobi," he murmured, more like talking to himself, "I still do even till this day. He finally saw me as an equal back then… He grew stronger so he might not even see me that way now. I'm hoping that he would accept that when I go beat the shit out of him one of these days…because I want him to know that I was able to bring him back because we were equal. Not because he was superior over me, or me superior over him, but because I faced him as a shinobi, a friend, just like how he is to me. I just want to save the circlet until I face him again." He knew he babbled nonsense to his unsuspecting kids, realized that he talked too much, but he didn't care at the moment.

The group was silent. Even Mitsuki was staring at him soberly. Ichi looked stunned, his big eyes widened, making him look more feminine than usual. Shiro impassively looked at him, a flicker of something shown in his eyes before he turned away. Naruto felt a jolt of pain in the chest at how similar Shiro was as his ex-best friend, no, best friend even now. He ignored the stir in his stomach as usual and stared back at them with a grin, which will be bright, he hoped.

"Now, back to your mission and training," he said brightly, clapping his hands together in a sign of dismissal, which his students knew how to comprehend. Silently, his students wandered back to their side of the mirror obediently. They began to climb the mirror slowly, although clumsily, dragging a wet mop along the surface to clean it.

And that was a week ago.

Now, Naruto stood in between all the jounin, yawning carelessly as the Godaime talked on and on about the upcoming Chuunin Exam, including the villages that'd be attending it, the rules – not that anybody in jounin rank didn't know about it –, and what kind of job they would be entrusted with during the exam. Naruto inwardly flinched when Godaime darkly mentioned "Otogakure (Sound Village)" in one of the villages attending, but didn't show it, and turned to look at the pink haired woman beside the Godaime while the jounin instructors stepped up to nominate their teams.

Sakura was pale, her hands clutching and tightening around the material of her white coat as the conversation went on. Her pink hair covered her face, but with his good vision – thanks to the parasite's senses – he saw her green eyes tearing, the muscles around her eyes tense and straining to not let the tears fall. Solemnly, he turned back to the meeting, when the other two jounin instructors, Kiba and Ino, of nine rookies, began to declare their decisions.

"I nominate all 3 students in the Chuunin Exam," Ino announced with confidence, smiling, "They proved to have excellent teamwork, so I'll give them a shot this year." She ignored the collective gasps in the room and stepped back, looking at Kiba expectedly.

Kiba, grinning with pride and his arms crossed, also declared his decision, "I also nominate all of my students in." Akamaru also barked in approval.

After stepping back, both Kiba and Ino turned to look at him, waiting for him to make his own decision. Sighing with slight exasperation, Naruto also stepped up lazily, scratching the back of his head, "I nominate all of my students in the Chuunin Exam," he drawled dryly with a shrug, shoving his hands into his pocket. He had noticed that his team was getting along well with each other, bickering all the time and bonding on their own way, especially Ichi and Shiro; they were like he and his best friend, except a little more civil. At the corner of his eyes, Naruto saw Sakura giving him an encouraging smile. Godaime put down the information of two teams on her paper, hesitating on Team 6, his team.

"Are you sure, Naruto?" Tsunade frowned at him, pausing in her writing momentarily, "I mean, this is your first time being an instructor and all… Maybe you should wait for the next one and then nominate them in. After all, that's what Lee did with his students." She said bluntly, looking at him with seriousness. But Naruto knew that he could trust on his students' ability, and shook his head, confirming his belief. Tsunade studied him for a moment before nodding in approval, going back to writing. "Alright. That's all I need to know. All jounin who nominated their team may leave, but rest of you, stay back. We will discuss about the examiners next."

**OXOXOXOXO**

Ino gasped, covering her mouth in dismay as she stared at the scene before her with her blue eyes. Kiba, behind her, cringed as the metallic scent assaulted his senses, his nose twitching in reflex. Akamaru, all grown and enormous now, gave a low growl and stayed close to his master, his nose nudging at the back of his partner's black pants. An ANBU team was at the back, one of them holding a file from the yellow envelop labeled, 'Chuunin Exam Contestants.'

It was a horrible sight, blood splattered everywhere and a young girl slumping against a black stone. Her face was turned to the right, out of their vision and her messy and stained green hair covering her face. She seemed to have died quickly, only carrying one injury on her body. A clean and deep slit at the throat. The blood had dried a couple days before, judging by the way it was dark and easily peeled off when they scrubbed at it just once. Naruto calmly crouched down next to her still body, frowning, and quietly turned her over after gently laying the body on the ground.

Ino gave another gasp.

Kiba flinched at the sight, mouthing a silent 'ouch' as his face scrunched up with shock and horror.

"Her face…" Ino whispered shakily, her blue eyes still widened with dread, "Oh god… She doesn't have a face… Her face is blank…"

Kiba crouched down next to Naruto, inspecting the forehead protector quietly, "Iwagakure (Hidden Village of Rock)," he murmured, tracing the deep markings on the metal plate that was splattered with dried blood of hers, "She can't be a jounin judging by her appearance. She didn't sneak in here either, because she's carrying a passport that approved of her arrival yesterday at noon. She has to be a genin attending the Chuunin Exam."

"Hasaba Kia is her name, we believe," one of the ANBU at the back spoke lowly under his wooden mask, "Both her teeth and chakra system matched to the one on the report. We came to a conclusion that she was probably ambushed on her way to the 1st Exam when she was isolated from her teammates to probably go to the restroom…" he pointed at the bathroom that was set in the middle of the park not so far away from their place, "…right over there." That conclusion was probably the work of Shikamaru's, but that wasn't important right now.

Naruto was silent, only clenching his fist tightly and looking at the stone that was next to the rock nin's still body when Kiba hissed.

"Shit, what will their village think about this? First we kill off like one eighth of their jounin/chuunin population, now their precious genin prodigy is ambushed," Kiba grumbled, running his hand roughly through his hair with a hint of frustration. Then he turned to the blonde. "Oi, what do you think?" he asked, frowning when Naruto didn't react to his question, "Oi, Naruto?"

Naruto only gestured to the stone, his lips thinned into a line.

Kiba turned to the stone while Ino squatted down to inspect the dried writings, her slender but calloused fingers from her life as a shinobi mildly tracing the words. Quietly, Ino's whispered the words, her mouth moving slowly.

"_It will happen again."_

**OXOXOXOXO  
**

Naruto thoughtfully frowned and studied each of his students, who were tired and shabby looking. There was something wrong. Mitsuki, her blonde hair tangled and smudged with mud, glanced over at Shiro nervously once a while, her dark eyes showing fear and worry. She almost looked paranoid. Shiro looked the same except a little dirtier to people who didn't know him well enough, but Naruto, having experiences with guys like him in the past, knew that there was something wrong about him. The blonde jounin instructor noted the little flinches Shiro made often, his hand twitching as if wanting to grab at something, but keeping it down. Ichi seemed like the only oblivious one, looking around excitedly and grinning. Naruto's stomach twisted with fear at the familiarity of that scene, but he calmly restrained it, or at least tried to.

There were 12 contestants left, tired and dirty from their little hassle at the Forest of Death. Naruto shivered a little at that. He still could remember how he was swallowed by the snake, the slimy insides against his hand… Naruto shuddered and turned towards the familiar arena. It seemed like it was Udon, Hanabi, and Konohamaru's turn again this time (they were the judges last time too), because Hanabi was now up explaining the rules of the third exam, the ever present hand gestures decorating her explanation.

His team climbed up the stairs tiredly toward him, even though Mitsuki threw a nervous look at Shiro few more times in the process, as if Shiro was going to do something irrational. Naruto frowned at her paranoid actions, but decided to wait until they reached the top of the stairs, where he was. Straightening up from his slouch against the wall, he, with his hand gesture, silently called over Mitsuki, who followed him tentatively. She gazed hesitantly once more at Shiro, who glared at her warningly, before trotting after him.

Naruto took her to the corner of the arena, and softly talked to her. "What's wrong, Mitsuki?" he asked, worriedly looking at her.

Mitsuki tensed stiffly for the first time he saw her, and she swallowed, avoiding his blue eyes. She gave Shiro another fearful and worried look, before staring at the space between her feet. Naruto patiently waited for her to speak. Mitsuki finally looked up after a short silence, and he flinched a bit, noting her eyes widened with fear, which usually were half-lidded and filled with laziness.

"Naruto-sensei…" she began, her voice quivering, "I… We… I don't know what to say…" her form trembled, and Naruto quickly laid his hand on her shoulder in a sign of assurance. She calmed down a little bit, and began again. "You probably know, but our 2nd exam was to try to eliminate other teams without killing on our way to the tower. On our second day…" her voice thinned out and she started to tremble again, and she tried to regain herself by taking deep breaths, "On our second day… We had an ambush from the Iwagakure (Hidden Village of Rock) genin team." Naruto felt something heavy dropping in his stomach at the mention, but he didn't say anything and allowed her to ramble on. "They used an exploding tag on the tree we were standing on, and even though Shiro-kun and I were able to stay together, Ichi was blown away to some other place. We managed to defeat two of the members, but…" she trailed off, pausing a bit when her voice got too tremulous.

"But…" she began again after a short silence she used to calm herself down enough to talk without quivering voice, "But there was a girl left… She started acting really strange and her voice got deeper, chuckling and all that…"

-

"_Ku ku ku ku," the girl chuckled with a smirk on her face, her golden eyes flashing as she tossed her green hair back confidently, "Just as I expected… You are his students after all." Running her pale hand through her green hair, the iwa (rock) genin smirked even wider, her eyes running over the two of them, and her two companions lying on the ground unconscious._

"_How do you know Naruto-sensei?" Mitsuki questioned the green haired genin lowly and sharply, eyeing her carefully. Her dark eyes narrowed to slits and she glared at the other female, gripping at her kunai as if the world would end if she let go of it. Something about that genin made her feel very uneasy, and she was not about to let her guard down with an enemy around to eliminate them. Also, she was too confident, acting casual and calm when two her teammates were down. Mitsuki quickly searched around for ways they could defeat the girl, but was quickly reminded that they didn't know anything about what she was capable of._

"_Let's just say…" the green haired girl drawled, clearly sending her 'I know something you don't' message to the two Konoha genin, "…that I knew him long time ago." Mitsuki thought she saw a tint of red in those golden depths, but dismissed it as her imagination for the rock genin's eyes were still gold. Still, even with that distraction, the statement still hung at the back of her mind. Long time ago… Knew him long time ago…_

_Shiro didn't say anything, only biting down on his lips and watching the iwa genin with his activated swirling crimson eyes. Sharingan. The boy became better at controlling his sharingan after they learned chakra control, but he still couldn't keep it for a very long time._

"_Aren't you a pretty thing?" the girl cooed mockingly, an arrogant smirk playing on her lips as she tilted her head at Shiro, "Looking at me with those pretty eyes of yours… I'm quite flattered, you know." Shiro twitched, looking slightly disturbed, but otherwise blank as always. He and Mitsuki both knew that that was just a taunt, or a very bad flirt, but the second one was highly unlikely._

'_Where is Ichi?' Mitsuki thought, frustrated. She had no idea where Ichi was, because when those rock nins launched an ambush, he was blown away by the force of the exploding tags they set up. Mitsuki never liked to think too much, but ever since she became a genin, she was forced to think when she preferred being a lazy ass, watching the dark, night sky with her father when he was home. (Of course, with her mother yelling at the background too, telling her to go to sleep since she was a growing girl and needed it.) 'Shouldn't he be back by now?'_

"_But," the green haired girl continued, "You're not the only one who's special." Her golden eyes immediately turned scarlet, three commas around her pupil swirling languorously. She gave them a smile, a smile that made hairs on Mitsuki's neck stand up. Shiro jerked in surprise, eyes widened and his hand faintly twitching. "Surprised?" she snickered, "An Uchiha shouldn't be acting like that. But then again, if you're _his _son, then I suppose you'd detest anything that's related to the clan. _Our _clan." She looked at the dark haired boy right in the eye._

_The blonde haired girl was startled when Shiro suddenly fell on his knees, sweating and clenching his eyes shut tightly as he let out a long, bloodcurdling scream. The iwa genin was eyeing him almost gleefully, crossing her arms. Mitsuki ran to his side immediately, and grasped his arm, trying to shake him out of it._

"_Shiro-kun!" she yelled, "Shiro-kun! It's fine! Nobody's attacking! Shiro-kun! Snap out of it!"_

_With a gasp, Shiro was back, trembling uncontrollably against her hand as he panted, his eyes dilated. His sharingan faded away slowly, only leaving the hollow blackness behind. He fought for breath frantically, and Mitsuki rubbed his back reassuringly, worried. The black haired boy she admired never was shaken up this bad before… She didn't know what he saw, but to have him acting like this…it must've been cruel…_

"_M-Mangekyou Sharingan…" Shiro gasped, fear tinting his usually blank voice, "H-How does she know it…? It's the f-final level of sharingan…only an Uchiha could do it…"_

"_Already down, nah?" the originally golden eyed girl questioned tauntingly, mocking the Uchiha prodigy, "An Uchiha shouldn't be that weak. But then again, you were never trained by a true Uchiha. How would you know their, our great strength?" Her red eyes swirled almost lazily, "To be a son of _him_. Pity. If I were to raise you, I'd have trained you to be the greatest instead of abandoning you."_

"_Shut the fuck up!" Shiro gasped, fisting the fabric of his blue shirt, "You're not an Uchiha! You _can't_ be an Uchiha! You're from another village! How could you be an Uchiha when you're from there?" His rant was almost hysterical, as if he was trying really hard to convince himself. He wasn't succeeding. "He…My father…I thought he was the only remaining Uchiha… You can't be an Uchiha…" He trembled, trailing off._

_Mitsuki sympathetically patted his back. It was a known, hidden fact that Shiro's father was powerful; really powerful. He was a missing nin S-rank, and was known to have the power to annihilate an ANBU squad single-handedly. Shiro's main ambition was to destroy his bloodline. To him, even killing his father seemed impossible, and to have another strong Uchiha to kill…was… She squeezed her eyes shut, feeling pity rising in her. But she didn't show it. She knew Shiro well enough to know that he wouldn't appreciate pity._

"_I'm quite disappointed," the girl continued nevertheless, despite his condition, "You're his– Naruto's – student. I at least expected a mastered sharingan. I guess that dobe is doing a bad job with his teaching, chasing his impossible dream and still far behind my level…as usual." She licked her lips, a smirk on her face._

"_Don't talk about Naruto-sensei like that!" Mitsuki lowly growled. Sure, their instructor loved to torture them, and loved to get on her nerves especially, but she still respected him a lot. And from what her father and mother told her, Naruto-sensei was very strong despite the fact that he acted like a 7 year old more than often. She had witnessed a part of it during their mission at the Hidden Village of Rain, and also when he was demonstrating chakra control._

_-_

"Yoshi," Naruto grinned when all of his students nodded. Ichi was on the curious side, and Mitsuki was on whatever-side. Shiro didn't nod at all, but looked at him expectantly. Reading guys like his homicidal student always has been his specialty, especially due to a…particular friend (well, all those anal guys like Neji and Gaara too) before, so it was easy to know what Shiro wanted. "So you guys want a taste of the power of the Great Uzumaki Naruto, nah?"

He pouted when he was met with open-rejection, his students shaking their head. "Mou!" he whined, "Show some respect to your future Hokage, won't you?" Naruto sighed, throwing his hands up. "No matter. But anyways, to climb the mirror without using ladders and clean it at the same time – which would seem impossible to you guys now – what you'll do are focusing all of the energy of your chakra toward the soles of your feet and use that power to cling to the surface of these babies." Naruto tapped the dusty mirror, only to make a disgusted face and wipe his hands on his pants, "This training will help you have a greater control over your chakra."

"But Naruto-sensei," Ichi asked, blinking curiously, "I don't get it. How will that help us get stronger? We already know how to control our chakra."

"Patience, young one," Naruto smiled, snickering silently to himself as Ichi pouted, "The main point of this training, like I said, is to have a greater control over your chakra, to use no more than necessary, and to maximize its effectiveness in where and how you use it. It's critical that you apply that to your jutsu and techniques. It's even difficult for several high ranked ninjas to control it; even I couldn't control it until the training session before the third round of my first chuunin exam." Satisfied when he had his students' attention, he continued on, "The type of this training we are doing requires utmost concentration and delicate application of chakra possible. First of all, it's hard to manipulate chakra in your feet. Second of all, if do it weakly, you slip and fall, and then die. Third of all, if you go overboard with your chakra, then the mirror would shatter and you'd fall and die anyway. By the way, if you break the mirror, I'm taking it off from your payment.

"The second point of our little session is to build up and work on your stamina, speed, reflex, and accuracy. Think about how it'll be if you're in the middle of a dangerous, A-ranked mission and all of sudden the enemy's in front of you and you don't have enough chakra to perform anything because you're drained from excess chakra-using. Dangerous, nah? Stamina is important in your battles. In a battle, circumstances are always changing, and a true shinobi must be ready to do anything; he has to be able to manipulate and maintain his chakra if he wants to win. You don't have time to stand around trying to collect your chakra and do jutsu slowly or clumsily like when you're training. You need to be precise, accurate, and quick. By doing this exercise, you'll be also gaining that reflex that'd save your lives at some point.

"So," Naruto grinned brightly, rubbing his hands together, "Now that my boring lecture is done, it's time for demonstration!" He laced his fingers together in a form of seal, and looked at them. "Watch now. See, you concentrate the chakra in your feet," his sandal clad feet glowed with powerful purple chakra, "You keep it there," the glow remained, "And then you walk." His feet touched the surface of the mirror, and began to climb it easily as if he was just walking on the ground.

"Wow…" Ichi murmured with an awed expression on his face, "He's actually walking up the mirror…with his legs and feet parallel to the ground! I thought it was just a bluff…"

"So did I," Mitsuki answered back, whispering, "I know that he's powerful and all as we witnessed a portion of it back at the Amegakure, but it's kinda hard to believe it since he acts worse than my younger brother most of times…and my brother is 8!"

"I heard that!" Naruto yelled from his spot, glaring down at them.

"Sorry," they both quickly apologized, sheepish. Shiro just looked up at him indifferently, a bored look on his face even though a glint of excitement in his eyes just killed his cool act. He wasn't as good as his friend at hiding emotions…not that hiding your emotion was good, of course. Whatever will they do when they're sexually deprived? Psh. They'll die of frustration.

"Anyways, this is how you do it," the blonde haired instructor said crossing arms, "Any more questions? Because the blood is starting to rush backwards and it hurts. A lot."

"Naruto-sensei," Mitsuki raised her hand thoughtfully, which caught the blonde off in surprise since it was most likely that she'd start sighing again and muttering about how it was too troublesome. "Normally, people have blue chakra, don't they? When you were demonstrating just right now…your chakra was purple, and it was more powerful than normal chakra waves. It seemed like you were suppressing it down a great deal too, judging by the way it flickered unsteadily. May I ask why?" she felt her teammates look at her in surprise. She expected something like that, since the chakra glow was faint, as if Naruto-sensei was trying to suppress it; it was no wonder that her teammates couldn't detect it. But she was born observant, and she noticed these kinds of things a lot of times.

She felt her instructor stiffen, but patiently waited, crossing her arms and looking straight at him. He shifted uncomfortable under her scrutinizing gaze, but didn't answer for a while. Finally he opened his mouth, but his reply disappointed her greatly. "I can't tell you why," he said, his normally bright blue eyes dark, "It's a rule Yondaime made 28 years ago; nobody's supposed to talk about it."

And he left it as that, and hopped down, landing without any sounds. Mitsuki looked at her instructor. Naruto-sensei seemed like such a simple, stubborn, idiotic, and life-loving man…but it seemed like he was more complicated than anyone else. He hid many things discreetly, so skillful that her other teammates didn't notice the insomnia he suffered during their C-ranked mission with Hina-san, strained smile he gave after his meeting with Haruno-san, the faint dark circles under his eyes this morning, the distant look in his pained, darkened eyes during lunch break, and his way of dodging topics without people noticing it when it was getting uncomfortable for him.

'Naruto-sensei…' she thought as Naruto-sensei bragged to his other two students as if her question didn't impact him, 'Just what are you hiding…?'

_-_

"_Oh. Now the little girl defends that dead last," the green haired iwa genin sighed sarcastically, making feminine gestures with her hand, "What is the world coming to? Sooner or later, the idiot would probably drag Konoha down the drain with him, chasing after an impossible dream." She smirked, brushing a strand of her green hair back, "He'll never accomplish any of his dreams. Both of them."_

**_My name is Uzumaki Naruto, I'm sure you all know me from either your parents or…rumors. I like many things in the world, but there are also several things I really do hate passionately._**

_Dokun._

**_My dream is none of your concern._**

_Dokun. _

**It's none of your business.  
**

_Dokun._

**_Never mind, just go back to training._**

_Dokun._

_**It has to do my current goal. It is to…**_

_Dokun._

…_**It is to bring a precious person back to Konoha.**_

_Dokun._

_**Back then, I thought that hitaiate was a symbol of equality among shinobi. I still do even till this day. He finally saw me as an equal back then… He grew stronger so he might not even see me as an equal now. I'm hoping that he would accept me as an equal when I go beat the shit out of him one of these days…because I want him to know that I was able to bring him back because we were equal. Not because he was superior over me, or me superior over him, but because I faced him as a shinobi, a friend, just like how he is to me.**_

_Dokun…_

"_Shut the fuck up!" for the second time, Shiro lost it, and dashed at the green haired girl before Mitsuki grabbed him, badly shaken. He quickly activated his Sharingan and did a series of hand seals he knew by heart, and yelled, "Katon! Housenka no Jutsu!" After blowing small, yet powerful series of fireballs toward the girl's direction, which was just for distraction, he jumped high and took out his three shurikens in midair, and threw it. A **thunk** was heard, which meant that two missed and one got the target, before a log with three shurikens embarked on it dropped on the ground after a **poof**. 'Kawarimi no Jutsu!' he barely dodged the girl who appeared behind him, and jumped away hastily, sliding on the ground and causing dusts to rise._

"_So I guess that dobe _did_ teach you something," the girl drawled, "Not bad, even though you need a serious work on that sharingan," her own sharingan flared in response. "You're too weak." She did a back flip and dodged the shadow that was creeping to hers. She smirked, watching as the shadow struggled to reach further, "And slow. Who did your father breed with to make such a worthless son?" Shiro knew that she was taunting him, messing with his mind, but it still stung. He felt something trying to snap at the back of his mind._

_The girl disappeared momentarily before appearing on another tree when smoke rose from the tree she stood next to, followed by a big explosion and the fall of the tree. The ground shook with the force of the fall, and the green haired girl smirked confidently, crossing her arms casually. "Don't think that I forgot about you, little girl," she said, twirling a kunai, "Just because I happen to be screwing the boy's mind doesn't mean I'm off guard."_

'_Shit…!' Mitsuki cursed in her mind, taking out a kunai from her pouch, 'What am I going to do in this situation…?' She had 6 kunai, 12 shuriken, 3 exploding tags, 2 flash bombs, 1 smoke bomb, and 12 meters of a wire. What can she do with these?_

…

_Meanwhile, Ichi cursed out loud, trying to move his arms, "SHIITTTT!" He felt the blood rush to his head slowly, and tried to survive the splitting headache as he hung upside down. Vines were wrapped around him head to toe, and as he struggled, he felt chakra draining out of him. The enemy trap seemed like as if it was just set up randomly as a team made their way to the center. It wasn't his fault that he fell for the trap. It was that explosion that blasted him out of that stinkin' tree to all the way here, where the trap was coincidently. The long haired boy sighed, his eyes tearing, and pouted. Maybe he should've studied more of those techniques to save him from this. Shiro was better at escaping than him._

_He squirmed uncomfortably, and sighed again. He heard something heavily fall to the ground, felt it as it caused the ground to shake violently. He wanted to go to his teammates as soon as possible, to help them, maybe. But he believed that his teammates were fine without him. After all, they were so much better than him, both in ninja skills and qualities that were expected. He knew that they didn't need his help. He'd probably a hindrance to them, and cause danger again like he did back at the Hidden Village of Rain. If Shiro died…he wouldn't know what he'd do…_

_He had an urge to slap his own face silly when he suddenly felt depressed, but it was the truth. How will he live on knowing that his supposed arch nemesis died saving him? Knowing that the other gave his life so he could live on? Ichi sadly frowned and turned away from those thoughts. They were getting too complicated and depressing for his brain. (Not that he was calling himself stupid, of course.)_

_Ichi shifted awkwardly, and felt more chakra flowing out of him yet again. Now, what to do, what to do… He couldn't stay here forever, since anything unexpected might happen, quoting Naruto-sensei. Ichi suddenly frowned, his delicate brows furrowing. He felt like he didn't know Naruto-sensei anymore. He thought he had his instructor all figured out, but it seemed like he actually didn't understand much about his blonde teacher. Naruto-sensei was a simple guy at a first glance, easy to figure out and typical, but different from other people. But as you observed him, just like Mitsuki did, he had more underneath, craftily hidden and unrecognizable. **"A ninja must see underneath the underneath." **That statement repeated by Iruka-sensei frequently back at the academy described his instructor perfectly._

_He liked Naruto-sensei. Not in _that _way, of course, but in a "my instructor's acting like a seven year old, but I guess he's fine" way. Naruto-sensei once told him that he reminded him of his past self when he was a genin as they were eating ramen at Ichiraku. (Ichi preferred udon over ramen, but Naruto-sensei was treating him, so he just ate with him. That man was **addicted** to those!) It was just a passing statement, but it had remained in his memory. If Naruto-sensei was like him at one point, simple and childish, what caused him to turn out the way he is now?_

_Ichi's thoughts, for once serious, were cut short as a giant snake jumped out of nowhere with a long hiss and grabbed him, cutting the vines and setting him free from the trap but caught at the midriff in the snake's mouth. He wailed and flailed his arms about as the snake slithered away, feeling slimy saliva soak through his dirty, but white shirt and his pants, and its forked tongue brushing against his thighs._

…_at least he was out of the trap._

…

_Mitsuki thought getting Shiro to gather his wits was the first and utmost thing to do. She tied the smoke bomb to the round ring of her kunai, and threw it toward the green haired girl. The genin dodged it easily, and didn't even bat an eyelash when the smoke bomb suddenly exploded and filled the site with dusts and gray smoke. Mitsuki grabbed Shiro quickly and rushed away, feeling him struggle against her hold. She momentarily let go of him to cast a Kagemane no Jutsu on him, and hurried away, feeling Shiro imitate her movement and running with her. She heard the flash bomb she set up go off as the force of the smoke caused it to get stimulated. That should hold her off for a while._

_Mitsuki deftly climbed a random, tall tree when they were away from that place and pulled Shiro up, and released her jutsu on him when he settled on the branch. As expected, Shiro whirled around and glared at her immediately, his sharingan spinning._

"_What the hell are you thinking?" Shiro lowly growled, scowling openly at her. "Running isn't going to help, you know," his eyes were wild as he bit his lips, his hand trembling. "Sooner or later, she's going to come after us when those bombs wear off." Fear was evident in his eyes, but he stubbornly repressed it, hiding with fury._

"_I know that!" Mitsuki snapped at him, scowling right back at him. The black haired boy looked taken aback when she darkly continued, "But we can't devise a plan with you losing your cool like how you did back there, Shiro-kun. The reason why I dragged you out of that mess was so that you could calm down. We can't do anything against that girl if you're like this." She gripped his hand. "She knew what I was trying to do, and let us go for that moment for some strange reason. But we can't let this chance slip, Shiro-kun. She's going to come after us soon, and I need your help to make this work," she ran her hand through her messy blonde hair. "So will you please calm down?"_

_The Uchiha prodigy toned down considerably, his fury fading away and soon replaced with his usual, blank self. "Good," Mitsuki said wearily, "If you didn't calm down I was going to bonk you over the head and knock you out. Dealing with an enraging, roaring, and rampaging you is too troublesome. I'd rather deal with the creepy girl."_

_Shiro glared at her silently._

"_What we're going to do now is a revised version of my father's past, really, really old plan," Mitsuki began, ignoring his silent glare, "Unfortunately, even though I'm supposed to be the genius, I'm not as good as my father, and I don't have a lot of experiences with using my brain. While my father grew up playing shougi or go, I grew up arranging flowers with my mother. So I'm quite inexperienced at using my head to its full potential." It was ridiculous, she knew, but it was the truth. "Part of it is from my brain, and the other part's from my father's brain. So at least trust my father's part."_

_Shiro nodded._

…

_She sauntered into the clearing, where she felt the Nara girl and her…_nephew_'s chakra. She smirked and jumped up into the tree. As expected, a kunai flew at her side, and she dodged it easily. 'That's done by the girl, judging by that slow speed.' She thought she heard something snap at the back, but played along with the kids, knowing that the blonde girl set up the traps. "Come out, now," she drawled dryly, "You know you can't run away from me."_

_Another kunai flew from the back with an amazing speed. She just stepped to the side, hearing the kunai whizzing past her. It landed with a thunk somewhere out there. Simplistic kids. They never knew when to quit. However, she was surprised when another kunai appeared within her sight, this time heading toward a thick bush near the tree she was standing on. She cursed mentally when it came in contact with a ward there, hidden cleverly behind that bush, followed by a large explosion as the tree shook. She was caught off guard when a shuriken sailed through the air, cutting the thin line the flash bomb was attached to on the tree across from hers. The flash bomb went off, causing a momentary blindness as it created glaring white light. She watched knowingly as the shadows stretched, a smirk playing at her lips._

_The light faded away eventually, and when she adjusted her eyes to darkness again, there was the blonde girl on the tree across from her. "That was pretty smart for your level, little girl," she smirked. Probably nicked it from her father. "A work of your father's isn't it?" she asked breezily._

_The girl smirked back at her, surprising the iwa genin. "Nah. It's a little bit different… But it worked didn't it?"_

_She felt the corner of her mouth twitch. "Hn." She tried to jerk one of her arms, testing, and wasn't surprised when her arms didn't move. The blonde looked relieved at that; maybe she wasn't expecting the plan to be perfect, considering that she probably planned it out in 3 minutes, revising her father's plan to adjust to their combat. "Kagemane no Jutsu," she said to herself. She was fairly familiar with it. "Nara clan's specialty,"_

_Mitsuki breathed in slight relief. She had used her father's past knowledge and used her shadow to reach the back of other's, assisted by the temporary flash of the flash bomb, "Kagemane no Jutsu, success," she grinned, uncurling her hands that were formed into a familiar seal to both her and the genin, "Shiro-kun, now!"_

_The black haired boy appeared on the tree the green haired girl was standing on, and smirked. He jumped high, and threw 12 shurikens connected together with a long wire, causing the green haired genin to slam against the rough bark of the tree when it wove around her, tying her efficiently to it after Mitsuki released the jutsu at the right time. Then he did a familiar, but slightly awkward series of hand seals – since it was a jutsu he didn't use usually due to its massive chakra waste – quickly, "Katon!" he yelled, "Karyuu Endan!" he breath in, and blew a stream of powerful flames toward the tree, letting it flow out of his mouth smoothly. The three recently invented exploding tags – Konoha created a new kind of exploding tags that'd go off when you stimulate them – on the tree went off with loud explosions as the fire stimulated it. He landed on the ground elegantly, drained and satisfied. The smoke erupted as the tree burned, and clouded the area. Shiro controlled his fire so that it'd only knock his enemy out instead of roasting her to death._

"_Not bad, for a bunch of little midgets, that is…" instead of a cooing, alto female voice they were used to hearing, a deep voice came from the place where the green haired genin got scorched at. They both stiffened, and let their guards up again, but couldn't see what was going on, due to the smoke surrounding the tree. Mitsuki shivered, feeling as if something really bad was going to happen. The aura of that girl changed abruptly, going bad to insanely dangerous. Mitsuki also felt a great power radiating from the aura, which was probably hidden up until this point. Shiro took out a kunai, despite the fact that his own legs were shaking unsteadily._

"_Naruto taught you well," the deep, foreign voice snickered, "I didn't expect you midgets to come even this far…" some smoke cleared, "But then again, that dobe had a tendency to push whoever he came across." Gradually, the moving gas particles faded away, and revealed a stranger. Shiro recoiled as the dim moonlight revealed the stranger's face. _

_Mitsuki gasped. That person… He…_

_**He looked almost identical to Shiro.**_

_Maybe it was the other way around, but her mistake was the last thing on Mitsuki's mind. He was someone you'd imagine Shiro to look like when he grew up. But…they looked like as if they were…related. That was the most likely, the only logical possibility. Mitsuki, with her dark eyes widened with fear, collapsed unto the ground, trembling ceaselessly as the stranger smirked, his crimson eyes glowing eerily in the moonlight. He was beautiful, really beautiful in a masculine way, but there was something dangerous about him, which subdued her into this quivering mess._

_The stranger raised his slender hand to peel off the remaining skin of the girl they fought against from his face, which came off easily with a sickening, rubber-like sound. The ever present smirk was playing at his lips, the only thing that didn't change from the green haired girl. He was wearing a dark robe, complete with the wooden geta sandals. His dark, slightly long bangs framed his pale face, and his hair shot out at the back, giving a strange impression of a spiky version of a rooster tail. He also seemed like he was around Naruto-sensei's age. Power radiated from the man, and Shiro gulped, his hand tightening around the kunai._

_Mitsuki felt like as if she was under a great pressure, and couldn't move. She gasped for breath as she sweated, and she tried to think, but couldn't think straight. She only breathed in and out roughly, unable to speak._

"_Who…" Shiro began, trembling, "What the hell are you…?"_

"_I can't tell you now," the man said teasingly, "But you'll know soon enough." His sharingan swirling, the dark haired stranger walked over to the trembling boy, "You have potential, Uchiha Shiro," his lips pulled into a mild smirk. "If you stay around in this dump, you'll never gain what you want," Shiro's now dark eyes shook when he said that, "You'll soon look for me for power; you won't be able to resist it," he whispered, "Because an Uchiha could never resist power, just as our clan, your father and I couldn't." He did a quick series of hand seals with one hand and grabbed the boy with the other. There was a small purple flash before a snake shot out from his hand, its two long fangs sinking into the flesh of Shiro's neck. Shiro let out a painful scream through his clenched teeth, struggling frantically against his hold._

_Mitsuki wanted to reach out and pull the boy away from the man's presence, from that pain, but couldn't as she watched, frozen and mesmerized, as if she was hypnotized. Tears rolled down her face unknowingly, dripping down unto the ground as Shiro struggled wildly._

"_Prove to me that you're strong enough," the man murmured loosened his hold, and Shiro fell, unconscious; the snake was sucked back into his palm. "That you're strong enough to survive this seal." There was a faint red mark on Shiro's neck. "It's a mere imitation of what my…ex-master did, but this will be enough for you…for now." His lips curled into a smirk as he turned to the frozen blonde girl, who was crying silently. "No matter what you do," he whispered, "He'll come to me for power, little girl. And you won't be able to stop him." And then he disappeared without any sound._

_Mitsuki felt the weight on her shoulder disappear finally, and then passed out with a **flump** on the ground._

_-_

_When she woke up, she saw a white and black blur moving around her. She felt drained… She blinked and groaned, making a move to rise. A hand immediately stopped her movement, ushering her down onto the soft ground again gently. "Mitsuki-chan, don't do that. You're pretty worn out right now. You need your rest. Don't worry and just sleep." The voice was familiar, painfully high-pitched but nice, and the soothing hand on her hair had her drop back into the dream world yet again._

_Mitsuki was suddenly jolted awake again from her sleep when a strangled scream suddenly cut through the comforting silence. Moaning, she sat up quickly, regretting that when her head spun in response to her abrupt movement. She heard somebody curse loudly and move around. "Ichi…?" she called out weakly, rubbing at her temple. "Is that you…?" She felt the soft, moist, grassy ground underneath her fingertips and a light, warm weight over her; she blindly grabbed it, only to find out that it was a towel._

"_Mitsuki-chan!" the voice came back, relieved, approaching her quite softly. When he plopped down by her side, he asked worriedly, "Are you okay?"_

"_What is it…?" she asked groggily, rubbing at her eyes frantically to chase the weariness away, "I heard a scream… Is somebody hurt?" She wasn't thinking straightly; she was never a morning person. In fact, she was never an after-sleep person. It was a gene passed down by both of her parents. Her mother and father were cranky in the morning. They were worse than her when it came to morning behavior._

_A short silence. "Shiro's having a nightmare," Ichi said carefully, "He's calling out something about his mother and father… It's best that we don't interrupt him right now… He's burning hot, his chakra is almost drained for some reason, and…he's hurt. I tried to treat him, but I'm not as good as Mitsuki-chan, so…" He looked toward a certain direction and Mitsuki figured that that was where Shiro was._

_Mitsuki suddenly felt like she was snapped awake. "How is Shiro-kun?" she asked worriedly, looking at the long haired, feminine boy, "He was badly injured when we were fighting that…girl… Is he okay?" She hesitated on the girl part; Ichi didn't need to know about what happened. She didn't want to worry the boy._

_Ichi paused, his big, multicolored shifting eyes glowing in the early morning light, "Like I said, he's not doing so well both mentally and physically, Mitsuki-chan. Both of you weren't doing so well when I found you guys… I thought…" his voice trembled, "I thought you guys were dead…" His fists clenched. "Because I wasn't there to help, I almost let you guys die… I was so scared, Mitsuki-chan… So scared that you and Shiro both died…" he trailed off, clenching his fists, and his eyes tearing._

"_There, there," she sighed and patted him on the shoulder, "We're…both fine aren't we?" she had hard time speaking the word both, but that seemed to help Ichi gather himself, so she continued softly, "Nothing…happened to us. We're fine. That team was eliminated." She smiled, "Thanks, Ichi, for taking care of us like this."_

_Ichi nodded tearfully, but smiling. "Un! I promise that I'll be there for you guys if you guys need help!"_

"_Good boy," Mitsuki patted him again, smiling just lightly. "Now, tell me where you were, what you did, and why you couldn't come."_

"_Uh…" Ichi scratched his head sheepishly, "Well, after we were separated because of that exploding tag…I got blasted away to some clearing and fell into an enemy trap unexpectedly." He almost said it meekly, embarrassed, "It was a trap they sat up randomly in hopes to eliminate some enemy, so…yeah. I was trying to free myself from the trap when this snake all of sudden came and got me." His face scrunched up, remembering the horrible, slimy sensation, "I was freed from the trap, but I was in the snake's mouth. But then, I started thinking about you guys…" he was almost getting teary, but he suppressed it, "…And stabbed the snake's tongue with my kunai. Then I used Kawarimi no Jutsu to escape. I went back to the clearing, but you guys weren't there, so I searched around a bit until I found both of you guys passed out on the ground."_

_His blonde teammate sighed wearily, pinching the bridge of her nose with her index and middle finger while smiling lightly, "Typical of you, really…" She then finally noticed that they were under a tree, hidden by the great roots and tall grass._

"_What happened to you guys?" Ichi asked carefully, a lock of his long, midnight hair slipping over his shoulder, yet again looking feminine. He was prettier than most of the girls their age in Konoha, even though he didn't seem to realize it. Mitsuki was secretly jealous – that was why she was dry toward him sometimes, since he just seemed to scintillate with the 'girl' aura. She was tomboy-ish, and not a lot of people realized that she was a girl until they took a good look at her not flat but almost flat chest._

_Mitsuki paused, "…Nothing much." She only said. "We beat two enemies, but the last one grabbed her teammates and ran away, so…" She trailed off. She didn't think she'd be able to lie to innocent Ichi with a straight face. It was enough that she had to lie about what happened Shiro… Again, she didn't want to worry Ichi; he probably had a near-heart attack when he found them unconscious in the forest. She flinched when her head spun again. Her hand flew to her head in an attempt to soothe the ache before Ichi noticed, but the boy was able to detect it, and he immediately ushered her down to the ground again gently._

"_Mitsuki-chan, you should rest," Ichi murmured, fixing the towel on her body so that it'd cover her more, "I'll take care of Shiro…you just rest for now. You guys had a rough day, and…this is kinda like my apology for not being there when you guys were in trouble," his voice was strangely soothing, and Mitsuki's breath slowed down gradually before she fell asleep in a blink. Ichi fondly patted her hair, like an older brother would pat his younger sister, before standing up and wandering over to Shiro's side, who's been quiet for a while._

_Ichi plopped down next to the unconscious dark haired boy, "Bastard," he grudgingly murmured as he poked at the pale cheek – even though it was flushed and sweaty – with his index finger, "You probably overdid it again just like last time, huh? Why do you keep on doing that? Isn't it painful? I never knew that you were a closet masochist…" he tried to crack a joke or something to brighten his mood, but it didn't work. Sulking, Ichi began to play with the dark haired boy's disheveled ponytail mildly, "Why am I like this?" he wondered out loud, "Mitsuki-chan said that you were fine…that you were just physically worn out because of the fight. But why do I feel like something worse happened to you? Why do I feel like as if we're going to lose you soon? Why?"_

_His questions remained unanswered as the Uchiha prodigy slept on, oblivious of everything that was going on around him._

_-_

**_His dark eyes widened as he took in the wall that was splattered with blood, the blood of his mother. His backpack fell to the ground as he scrambled in after slipping his shoes off, his small feet making loud sounds as he ran along the wooden floored hallway. The blood trail that started from the door led him to the kitchen, where he found his mother lying on the ground, unmoving. He made a move to rush to her side._**

**_The scene blurred and suddenly, a figure was in front of him, strangling him in the air as he kicked and resisted in a futile attempt. He looked up painfully and was met with a pair of familiar, but an unfamiliar pair of eyes. He saw these eyes before, but they were filled with warmth before…not the cruelness that was displayed in these eyes. He refused to believe it; this couldn't be true. He clenched his eyes shut tightly, refusing to accept the truth set out right in front of him. The hand on his neck tightened, cutting off air as he hopelessly flailed in the hand that was grasping him by the neck._**

"**_Weak…" the figure whispered as he dropped the boy onto the ground. He coughed and hacked as air returned to his lung full blast. "Weak, foolish, and young…" the red eyes flashed, immobilizing the petrified young boy in front of him. The voice and the scene faded away, and he was still in the kitchen, kneeling on the ground as hot tears streamed down his face. Fear clouded his mind, disabling him from thinking straightly and from moving his limp limbs._**

"**_Foolish boy," the figure murmured, "If you wish to kill me just as I killed the woman, come for me with a killing intent, with hatred and revenge burning strongly in your eyes. If you wish to avenge the woman, come for me with power flowing underneath your hands. Cling to your life and survive. Run and run on the path of loathing and coldness; push the warmth away as they draw you in, steering you away from your ambition. Live on and come before me when you wish to end this pitiful line of Uchiha..."_**

_I wasn't able to do anything… I couldn't save her… My mother…_

**_When those red eyes flared in the dim moonlight once more, the boy fell with a flump after a moment of stillness, falling on top of the dead, cooling body that was next to him. The very blood of his mother soaked through the thin material of his shirt, the sharp metallic scent assaulting his senses as he silently cried, his tears running down his cheek as he clutched at the dead woman, cursing the man over and over again in his head. A sob erupted from his throat once, and as if that was the signal, he started to weep out loud, trembling as he cried._**

_I was too weak…too young…and too naïve…_

**_There was another presence behind him as he watched his younger self sob. The dark haired boy, the older version of the one in front of him, observed the scene with pain and hatred burning in his dark eyes as he clenched at the material of his pants tightly._**

_Weak… **The voice whispered wickedly into his ear. **So weak that you couldn't even protect your own family._

_Shut up. **He retorted coldly, pointedly looking only forward, watching his younger self cry into the shirt of the dead woman.**_

_That proves how strong you are, doesn't it? How different are you now from the past? **The memory of him falling at the forest came back full force. **Still the same, aren't you? Not much of a difference, isn't it? What can you do, boy? You know that he's strong – really strong. At this rate, you even won't be able to kill him._

_I don't have any other choice. **He answered, shaking his head, still staring at his younger self stubbornly.**_

_What if you do? **The light reached its hand out at him, its warmth radiating against his back. **What if there is a way?_

_There is no other way. **He said firmly to himself, turning around to face the offending source of the voice. He flinched at the bright light, but otherwise didn't do anything else. **Only hatred and rage exist on my path…even when I get sidetracked like when I jumped in front of that idiot._

_But I could give you what you want, boy. **The voice whispered, the light getting stronger and brighter. **I could give you power, the power to kill that man._

**_A momentary silence._**

…_I accept. **The voice was small and doubtful, even though it sounded impassive.**_

_**He was able to know that the figure smirked, as the light flooded the deserted area, the scene of his past fading away. **A wise choice._

_**And then there was nothing.**_

_-_

_Ichi snapped awake from his sleep as a sudden burst of chakra came from the body underneath him. Blinking, he rubbed his eyes, willing the sleepiness to go away, until he noticed the fact that he was sleeping on his rival's chest just a moment ago. He blushed fleetingly, but recovered as another wave of chakra radiated from the unconscious Uchiha. He peered down at his teammate, frowning worriedly as he made a move to reach out and lay his hand on Shiro's forehead._

_**Dokun.**_

_The long haired Hyuuga withdrew his hand quickly, startled, when Shiro snapped his eyes open, his sharingan activated. This time, though, both of his eyes contained three commas swirling around the pupil. The Uchiha panted as chakra visibly radiated from his body, the red chakra licking at Ichi's clothes. Shiro sat up with his head bowed, his long bangs curtaining around his face, thus disabling Ichi from seeing him._

"_Shiro…?" the heir to the Hyuuga clan hesitantly reached for his dark haired teammate, his eyes filled with worry as he attempted to touch the other boy. "W-Why are you…?"_

_His hand was slapped away as the dark haired boy glared at him, red chakra rolling off his figure. Ichi scowled, rubbing at his stinging hand as he openly showed his distaste at the treatment he got. But his scowl faded as Shiro stood up, wobbling. Worry took over him once again as he quickly grabbed Shiro's pants, trying to hold him down as Shiro pulled against his hold._

"_Down, bastard!" Ichi yelled through his gritted teeth, "You're not fully recovered yet! It's only been 6 hours ever since I found you unconscious, damn it! Your chakra was drained when you were sleeping! You can't recover that fast!" He struggled as Shiro tried to reach for him. Despite his attempt to hold his teammate down, Shiro easily pried him off surprisingly with a great power, and Ichi staggered back, his big eyes widened with astonishment._

"_Shiro…" he murmured disbelievingly._

_But before Ichi made any other move toward his dark haired teammate, he felt something hit the back of his neck, his multicolored shifty eyes turning pale blue. Shiro whispered something to him, but his world went black, and he stumbled backwards momentarily only to fall on the sleeping blonde girl, unconscious. The blonde girl immediately was snapped awake from her comfy, sleepless dream, muttering muffled curses as she attempted to push the boy off him groggily._

"_Ichi…" she growled, and pushed the offending body off her with a surprisingly strong heave for a girl who just woke up, "Why the HELL did you…" her question faded away as she sat up quickly, turning the limp body over. "Ichi…?" Mitsuki grew worried when the boy remained motionless, not answering to her call. She immediately checked for his pulse, which was beating much to her relief, and his breath brushing softly and weakly against the skin of her hand._

"_Shit…" she lowly muttered and whipped her head toward the direction Shiro occupied before. No one. Empty but the towel occupying the space. Draping Ichi with the towel, Mitsuki silently padded out from their silent, comfortable refuge, stepping out into the chilly morning air. She shivered briefly, but the distraction left her just as quickly when she spotted the Uchiha prodigy, who was leaning against a nearby tree trunk and panting heavily. Frowning, she approached him carefully, not bothering to hide her presence._

"_I knew you weren't in the condition to run away quickly," Mitsuki said dryly, "You were hurt pretty badly, Shiro-kun. Both physically and mentally. I didn't expect you to disappear in a flash, but I didn't think that you'd knock Ichi out to run off to _that_ man either." She plainly said, not accusing but only stating the fact. Judging by the Uchiha's silence, it was probably the truth, she realized with horror. She clenched her teeth, and stared at him determinedly._

"_Shiro-kun," she only said, "I'm not letting you go to that freaky eyed bastard."_

**To be continued…**

**XOXOXOXO**

A/N: Finally dooonnneeee! (collapses) Oh yeah, sorry for the long wait! (gets ambushed by the readers) Sorry if Mitsuki's not smart enough – it's just that the author is stupid. Harhar. Anyways, a weird way to end the chapter, but I couldn't think of anything else. I'll do replies the next time. Oh yeah, I'm thinking about separating the "Sound and Leaf" arc into like a different fanfic. What do you guys think?


End file.
